



>*,-'K 



Ip f^i^S jii'^'^' :--'.;^ 













V 







.^ . 










r^<i• 




.V 








'o • 



' .^^ 



^^ 








^$». 





X^^"" : 








°. 



O > 




*". o 



v^ .., V ^'^ ^f^ ,,. V '-°' \<&' -^ 







^°'*. 




':^o^ 




,♦ .^'% °m' /\ --pi-" .^^' 




.,0^ 



V» A 



•^►^ 



Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
in 2010 witii funding from 
Tine Library of Congress 



littp://www.arcliive.org/details/evolutionofelemeOOgree 



Intattatioiral €immiian Btxm 

EDITED BY 

WILLIAM T. HARRIS, A. M., LL. D. 



Volume LVI 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. 

12m.o, cloth, uniform binding. 



THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES was projected for the pur- 
pose of bringing together in orderly arrangement the best writings, new and 
old, upon educational subjects, and presenting a complete course of reading and 
training for teachers generally. It is edited by William T. Harris, LL. D., 
United States Commissioner of Education, who has contributed for the different 
volumes in the way of introduction, analysis, and commentary. 

1. The Philosophy of Education. B7 Johann K. F. Rosenkranz, Doc- 

tor of Theology and Professor of Philosophy, University of KQnigsberg. 
Translated by Anna C. Brackett. Second edition, revised, with Com- 
mentary and complete Analysis. $1.50. 

2. A History of Education. By F. V. N. Painter, A.M., Professor of 

Modem Languages and Literature, Roanoke College, Va. |1.50. 

3. The Kise and Early Constitution of Universities. With a Sur- 

vey OP Medieval Education. By S. S. Laurie, LL. D., Professor of 
the Institutes and History of Education, University of Edinburgh. $1.50. 

4. The Ventilation and Warming of School Buildings. By Gilbert 

B. Morrison, Teacher of Physics and Chemistry, Kansas City High School. 
$1.00. 

5. The Education of Man. By Friedrich Frobbel. Translated and an- 

notated by W. N. Hailmann, A.M., Superintendent of Public Schools, 
La Porte, Ind. $1.50. 

6. Elementary Psychology and Education. By Joseph Baldwin, 

A. M., LL. D., author of " The Art of School Management." $1.50. 

7. The Senses and the Will. (Part I of "The Mind of the Child.") 

By W. Preter, Professor of Physiology in Jena. Translated by H. W. 
Brown, Teacher in the State Normal School at Worcester, Mass. $1.50. 

8. Memory: What it is and How to Improve it. By David Kay, 

F. R. G. S., author of " Education and Educators," etc. $1.50. 

9. The Development of the Intellect. (Part n of " The Mind op thb 

Child.") By W. Prbyer, Professor of Physiology in Jena. Translated by 
H. W. Brown. $1.50. 

10. How to Study Geography. A Practical Exposition of Methods and 

Devices in Teaching Geography which apply the Principles and Plans of 
Ritter and Guyot. By Francis W. Parker, Principal of the Cook County 
(Illinois) Normal School. $1.50. 

11. Education in the United States : Its History from the Earliest 

Settlements. By Richard G. Boone, A.M., Professor of Pedagogy, 
Indiana University. $1.50. 

12. European Schools ; or, What I Saw in the Schools op Germany.. 

France, Austria, and Switzerland. Bv L. R. Klemm, Ph. D., Principal 
of the Cincinnati Technical School. Fully'illustrated. $2.00. 

13. Practical Hints for the Teachers of Puhlic Schools. By Georgs 

Howl AND, Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools. $1.00. 

14. Pestalozzi : His Life and Work. By Roger db Guimps. Authorized 

Translation from the second French edition, by J. Russell, B. A. With an 
Introduction by Rev. R. H. Quick, M. A. $1.50. 

15. School Supervision. By J. L. Pickard, LL. D. $1.00. 

16. Higher Education of Women in Europe. By Helene Lange, Berlin. 

Translated and accompanied by comparative statistics by L.R. Klbmm. $1.00. 

17. Essays on Educational Keformers. By Robert Herbert Q.uice, 

M. A., Trinity College, Cambridge. Only authorized edition of the work as 
rewritten in 1890. $1.50. 

18. A Text-Book in Psychology. By Johann Friedrich Hebbart. Trans- 

lated by Maegaret K. Smith. $1.00. 

19. Psychology Applied to the Art of Teaching. By Joseph Baldwin, 

A. M., LL.D. $1.50. 



TEE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION 8ERIES.~(Ckmtinued.-) 

20. Koussean's Ii:inile ; or, Treatise on Education. . Translated and an- 

notated by W. H. i^AYNK, Ph. D., LL. D. gl,50. 

21. Tke Moral Instruction of Children. By Felix Adler. $1.50. 

22. £nglisli ^Education in the Klementary and Secondary Schools. 

By Isaac bHARPLEss, LL. D., President of Haverford College. $1.00. 
£3. !Edacation from a National Standpoint. By Alfred FotJiLLfeE. $1.50. 

24. Mental Development of the Child. By W. Preter, Professor of 

Physiology in Jeua. Translated by H. W. Brown. $1.00. 

25. How to Study and Teach History. By B. A. Hinsdale, Ph. D., LL. D., 

University Oi Micuigan, ^1.50. 

26. Symbolic Education. A Commentart on Froebel's " Mother-Plat." 

Uy yusAN L. Llusv. $1.50. 

27. Systematic Science Teaching. By Edward Gardnier Howe. $1.50. 

28. The Education of the Greek People. By Thomas Davidson. $1.50. 

29. The Evolution of the Massachusetts Puhlic-School System. By 

G. H. Martin, A. M. $1.50. 

30. Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. By Fbiedrich Feoebel. $1.50. 

31. The Mottoes and Commentaries of Friedrich Froehel's Mother- 

Play. By Susan E. Blow and Henrietta R. Eliot. $1.50. 

32. The Songs and Music of Froehel's Mother-Play. By Susan E. 

Blow. ^1-50. 
33 The Psychology of Number. By James A. McLellan, A. M., and 

John Dewey, Ph. D. $1.50. 
34. Teaching the Language-Arts. By B. A. Hinsdale, LL. D. $1.00. 

35 The Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child. Part I. 

By Gabriel Compayr^. Translated by Mary E. Wilson. $1.50. 

36 Herbart's A B C of Sense-Perception, and Introductory Works. 

By William J. Eckofp, Pd. D., Ph. D. $1.50. 
87 Psychologic Foundations of Education. By William T Harris, 

A.M., LL.D. $1.50. 
38 The School System of Ontario. By the Hon. George W. Ross, LL. D., 

Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario. $1.00. 

39. Principles and Practice of Teaching. By James Johonnot. $1.50. 

40. School Management and Methods. By Joseph Baldwin. $1.50. 
41 Froehel's Educational laws for all Teachers. By James L. 

Hughes, Inspector of Schools, Toronto. $1.50. 
42. Bibliography of Education. By Will S. Monroe, A. B. $2.00. 
4^. The Study of the Child. By A. R. Taylor, Ph.D. $1.50. 

44. Education by Development. By Friedrich Fjjoebel. Translated by 

Josephine Jarvis. $1.50. 

45. Tetters to a Mother. By Susan E. Blow. $1.50. 

46 Montaigne's The Education of Children. Translated by L. E. Rec- 
tor, Ph. D. $1.00. 

47. The Secondary School System of Germany. By Frederick E. 

Bolton. $1.50. 

48. Advanced Elementary Science. By Edward G. Howe. $1.50. 

49. Dickens as an Educator. By James L. Hughes. $1.50. 

50. Principles of Education Practically Applied. By James M. 

OiKEENWOOD. Revised. $1.00. 



THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SEBIES.-iContinued.) 

51. Student liife and Customs. By Henrt D. Sheldon, Ph.D. $1.20 net. 

52. An Ideal School. By Pheston W. Sbakch. $1.20 net. 

53. Later Infancy of tlie Cliild* By Gabriel Compatkb. Translated by 

Mary E. Wilson, i'art II of Vol. 35. $l.iiO net. 

54. The JSducational Foundations of Trade and Industry. By Fabian 

Wake. $1.20 net. 

55. Genetic Psychology for Teachers. By Chables H. Judd, Ph. D. 

$1.20 net. 

OTHEK VOLUMES IN PREPARATION. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES 



THE EYOLUTIOI^ OF 

THE ELEMEl^TARY SCHOOLS 

OE GREAT BRITAII^ 



BY 



JAMES C. GEEENOUGH, A.M., LL.D. 

FORMERLY PRINCIPAL OF RHODE ISLAND NORMAL SCHOOL, 

PROVIDENCE, R. I. 

LATER PRINCIPAL OF MASSACHUSETTS NORMAL SCHOOL, 

WESTFIELD, MASS. 



NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1903 



V 






Two Cowiee Ri3e»i^«b 



ft 






i.i. 



V / 



Copyright, 1903, 

By d. appleton and company. 



PiiMished November, 1903 



Electrotyped and Printed 
AT THE Appleton Press, U. S. A. 



EDITOR'S PEEFACE 



It gives me pleasure to commend this book of 
the International Education Series as a competent 
study of one of the most important national educa- 
tional systems in the world written from the stand- 
point of an American director of schools for the 
training of teachers. On account of the similarity of 
language and an identity of national traditions the 
English people seem to be much closer to the people of 
this country in educational ideals and practises than 
they really are. Upon a superficial view it seems to 
an American that there is not much difference be- 
tween an hereditary king or queen and the President 
of the IJnited States, and that the Parliament is very 
similar to our Congress. But the more one becomes 
acquainted with those governments the deeper seems 
the difference. But this difference in governments 
is slight as compared with that between what may be 
called the sense of social standing or caste which ex- 



vi ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

ists there and our own, and, inasmuch as this differ- 
ence is rarely commented upon, I have thought it de- 
sirable in my preface to this book to present some 
studies upon this peculiarity of the English people 
as viewed from the standpoint of the American citi- 
zen with a view to aid in the understanding of the 
first and second chapters of Doctor Greenough^s 
study, which present very clearly the facts in the 
case that are not in accord with our own course of 
experience. 

The English Government the Resultant of 
A Struggle Between Different Social Tenden- 
cies. — Properly to conceive the situation in England 
one must think all the social elements as existing in 
a state of tension, namely, each popular interest in 
Great Britain as existing in a constant struggle with 
all the other elements for its due consideration in the 
aggregate of all national interests : The manufactur- 
ing population, its capitalists and its laborers; the 
agricultural population, its landowners and its 
gentlemen farmers who lease the lands, and the 
masses of people who perform the common labor; 
added to those who manage its commerce, capitalists, 
supervisors, and laborers in the shops and markets 
and engaged in transportation, and besides these the 
titled classes of gentlemen who live upon their in- 



PREFACE vii 

comes from the land — and count with these the eccle- 
siastics, those engaged in governmental service, the 
civil list, and the army and the navy, and add what- 
ever other classes there may be : each pushes accord- 
ing to its strength and according to its particular in- 
terest, and the resultant is a balance of forces, an 
aggregate result, not the choice of any single per- 
son or party nor the victory of any single person or 
party, because the result is a compromise made which 
represents all the forces — each force limited through 
all the other forces. The aristocracy strives to retain 
its power and to get all that it can from the other 
classes. The mercantile population, the transporta- 
tion population, the church, the farm laborers, and 
the manufacturing population, all strive each to get 
its own and to get the highest amount of well-being 
for its expenditure of strength and material means. 
This struggle reminds one of the principle in evolu- 
tion known as the survival of the fittest. It seems to 
be a selfish struggle for the possession of means and 
power — each class against all the other classes, the 
strongest getting the lion's share and the weakest get- 
ting a pitiful morsel only, not sufficient for the food, 
clothing, and shelter demanded for a rational life. 
But this cruel and unfeeling struggle for survival is 
supplemented by the national philanthropy which 



viii ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

ekes out the stipend of the lower and lowest ranks of 
society by the poor-rates collected for the support of 
the paupers and for occasional aid for those ranks 
above the paupers who fall into circumstances of spe- 
cial need. 

It is said in behalf of the existence of the grand 
struggle that it develops individual strength as noth- 
ing else can do, and as regards the people who get 
underneath in the struggle, it is said that the church 
and the state look after their actual needs of sub- 
sistence. And on the whole there is a development of 
individuality such as could not be expected under a 
different organization of society. '* Every people 
will have weaklings who must be in a measure super- 
vised and cared for by the rest of society just as the 
children in the family must be more or less guided 
and provided for by their parents and the older mem- 
bers of the family." 

To some persons this explanation seems a forced 
one, designed specially to justify what is called the 
competitive organization of society. To others, and 
especially those engaged in the social philanthropies, 
it seems inadequate. 

This competitive struggle exasperates the student, 
who happens to be a partizan (for he takes sides with 
one party and does not feel a tolerant spirit toward 



PREFACE IX 

the others), and it seems to him tyrannical that his 
favorites should get no show. 

But English fair-play means just this thing — 
the free contest of all and an aggregate result in 
which each is represented at its full force — each 
force reduced to its true value as measured by its 
ratio in the strength of the whole. 

There are castes founded on conquest long ago 
and on wealth inherited from remote ancestors. 
But there are new conquests in war and new heroes, 
and layers of new castes, and especially of new strong 
people are continually arising through acquired 
wealth — through inventions, through new industries 
and new conquests in distant border lands. The cap- 
tains of industry, the organizers of capital, all those 
who make combinations in transportation and invest 
in distant lands capital for public improvements, 
form a large class in the ranks of the new higher 
caste. 

But an estimate that counts only the total process 
of the struggle of each against the whole gets only a 
half of the elements of the problem. 

There is besides this struggle the philanthropy 
that comes to the help of the weaklings of society, 
with hygiene at public expense, with alms distributed 
for the paupers, asylums for orphans, feeble-minded 



X ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

and defectives, and with juvenile reformatorie3 for 
reprobate children. 

It is this curious make-up from two contradictory 
elements— the cruel collision of brute force and the 
tender-hearted philanthropy — that puzzles students 
from other nationalities. It is difficult to see both 
sides at once. At one view it is a heartless struggle 
for control, each one for itself and no consideration 
for the others. Then at another view Great Britain 
is the nation of all in the world for the benevolent 
consideration of the " under dog." 

The Feeling of Caste as an Educative 
FoECE IN Geeat Beitain. — -In no particular per- 
haps is the English ideal more different from the 
American than in the fact that the caste system de- 
mands an habitual feeling of the necessity of re- 
straint within one's sphere of life. It demands con- 
tent and a cheerful acceptance of one's lot in life — 
the determination to do faithfully the duties involved 
in one's sphere. American life and education go to- 
ward the creation of enterprise and a heart hunger 
for adventure. This, too, is the spirit of English 
literature, from Defoe's Robinson Crusoe or even 
Spenser's Fairy Queen down to Kipling's latest 
poems and stories. 

In this we see in some of its phases what it is to 



PREFACE XI 

have an established church. Such a church belongs 
to a caste system in which the orders of the popula- 
tion are fixed by the constitution, whether written 
or traditional. All Europe in fact separates its 
orders by hard and fast lines as compared with the 
United States and Anglo-Saxon colonies. The estab- 
lished church teaches this acceptance of one's lot in 
life as predetermined by heredity and accident. A 
settled conviction arises in the mind of the English 
citizen that it is for him to know his duty and per- 
form it as prescribed by the functions of his caste. 
He has duties to those above him in the social rank 
and to those below him. He performs these duties 
and exacts as far as he is able a similar performance 
from others. His superiors should behave toward 
him with paternal condescension and humanity, and 
his inferiors should perform their duties toward him 
with some trace of filial consideration. 

It is difiicult for people in the United States to 
conceive the true inward attitude of mind on the 
part of the inhabitant of Great Britain. It is some- 
what difficult even for a Canadian or an Australian 
to conceive the state of mind of English peasantry in 
the rural districts. Large opportunities wait on all 
individuals in the colonies and limitation comes only 
from within^ not from without in the form of social 



xii ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

caste. But the grandfathers now living in the United 
States can remember hearing their grandfathers tell 
of the deference paid in the town to the squire and 
his family, and to petty dignitaries of the kind. In 
colonial times it was in many places customary for 
the congregation to rise and remain standing while 
the squire and his family moved down the aisle and 
took his front seat in the church. The view of the 
world of the person who recognizes caste and feels 
it as an ordinance founded in the nature of things, 
compared with the view of the world of the person 
who is brought up to believe all social distinctions 
accidents not affecting the fundamental rights of 
freedom and equality before the law of each indi- 
vidual, explains for us the radical difference which 
the Declaration of Independence has in the course of 
three generations produced in public and private 
opinion in this country. The continued readjust- 
ment of public opinion, rendered necessary by the 
Declaration of Independence and its doctrine of free- 
dom and equality of all men in the substance of their 
humanity, has progressed so far in this time that the 
old view of fixed orders of rank in society, as defined 
by the written or unwritten constitution of the nation 
and as justified by the religion of the established 
church, seems to us impossible to a rational being. It 



PREFACE xiii 

looks to us as though it were possible only to a people 
with some moral obliquity in their view of the 
world. The equality of all has become a political 
axiom with us. And yet the thoughtful person will 
readily admit that the world at large outside of the 
United States has not arrived at this conviction. 
The citizen of the United States, however, is in the 
habit of supposing that his view of freedom must be 
the internal or private opinion of every human being 
on the planet however different may be his practise. 
It is only, he says to himself, the practise that has not 
yet come up to the theory. But those who have made 
a careful study of the philosophy of history and of 
the comparative psychology of nations have come to 
see that the difference lies deeply in the political 
conviction of peoples and not merely in their prac- 
tise. 

I have dwelt on this point because the people of 
Great Britain come so near taking our political point 
of view that we are unable to explain their difference 
in practise. 

We are just coming by means of animal psy- 
chology to understand in the case of bees and ants 
the rise of separate social orders and of a funda- 
mental instinct that determines the vocation of the 
life of the individual, limiting it to special functions 



/ 



xiv ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

as in the case of laborers, drones, queens, etc. We 
are on the way to understand tribal life and the sub- 
stantiality which caste based on heredity attains. By 
and by perhaps we shall see and understand all the 
degrees of emancipation from caste which the nations 
of farther Asia, the Chinese, and the East Indian 
civilizations, have made on the way from savagery. 
These nations of farther Asia seem on a superficial 
view to have reached the acme of the caste idea. They 
have achieved a great emancipation as compared with 
savage life wherein nature rules with absolute sway. 
It is a great step when human nature gets reflected 
in literature and also in codes of customs and laws 
like those of Confucius and Mencius in China, or in 
the East Indian " code of Manu." Eor mere use and 
wont without reflection is mechanical as compared 
with a use and wont which is contrasted step by 
step with its ideal in literature, because the indi- 
vidual employs in this operation of comparing his 
deeds with their ideals a vast ainount of seK- 
activity. 

Assuming the point of view of our Declaration 
of Independence, the establishment of a caste system 
and of divine rights, founded on hereditary descent 
or the accident of history, seems like a struggle of 
selfishness to obtain unwarranted power. 



PREFACE XV 

On the other hand, setting aside this American 
view and approaching the study of the institutions 
of Great Britain from the standpoint of comparative 
history, we are filled with admiration for the de- 
vices invented by the unconscious spirit of the people 
to make the higher ranks, the hereditary nobility, and 
the possession of wealth founded on monopolies, 
serve the lower ranks of the people. From this it 
looks as if the higher ranks had for their chief func- 
tion the creation of opportunity for the lower ranks. 
The uneducated peasantry are more or less in the 
condition of " The man with the hoe," and contented 
with a lot in life which demands only a minimum of 
directive power. But the British East India Com- 
pany creates opportunities for wealth and compe- 
tence for hundreds of thousands of this stratum of the 
home population. It elevates them and their fam- 
ilies into castes many degrees higher than those they 
filled at home. And so the governing caste of Great 
Britain take possession of Australia, 'New Zealand, 
South Africa, and Canada with no end of expendi- 
ture of wealth and of military power, all for the 
creation of opportunity for the average common citi- 
zen. When it is asked what the highest classes of 
people in England do, history answers with the de- 
tails of British colonization by which the ranks of 



xvi ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

the poor and scantily educated castes of its people 
under the leadership of those highest classes have 
planted civilization and nurtured it in all quarters of 
the world — and one may say the record of growth of 
the United States, and of its prosperity, belongs to 
this part of British history. 

But the possession and colonization of territory 
is not the only exhibit which history makes of the 
united force of the British Empire ; there is another 
sphere which belongs to what may be called ^^promo- 
tion," or the capitalizing of industrial enterprises, 
such as the building of reservoirs for cities, trans- 
continental railways, naval vessels, steamboats for 
river navigation, the improvement of harbors, the 
building of sewers, and all that class of operations 
which invests capital in internal improvements in 
advance of the power of the border-land nation to 
provide the capital for building them out of its own 
income. The border-land nation can not spare the 
capital to provide what is necessary for its own 
hygiene and good government, namely, pure water, 
electricity or gas for its illumination, and street rail- 
ways for the cheap transportation of its population, 
but it can afford to pay a good rate of interest on 
capital thus invested. The small sum that is neces- 
sary to furnish a hundred gallons of pure water a 



PREFACE xvn 

day for each inhabitant can be afforded by the 
poorest of populations when paid in the form of 
water-rates which in the aggregate pay the interest 
on the bonds that purchased the water-works. The 
actual cost of sinking wells, or the actual labor of 
bringing the water in buckets from a muddy river, is 
an immensely greater tax measured in terms of 
money or daily labor. Builders of works for public 
hygiene make it possible to begin now to stamp out 
fever and pestilence and those dangers to public 
health to such a degree as to reduce the death-rate to 
half its normal standard as compared with the con- 
ditions prevailing in the eighteenth century, and do 
this a generation earlier than would be possible were 
the enterprise left to the border-land people. English 
capital prompted by a prudent philanthropy has re- 
duced the death-rate of London to the annual average 
of twenty deaths in each one thousand of the popu- 
lation. 

The estimate of the annual income from capital 
invested outside of Great Britain exceeds half a 
billion of dollars, or twelve dollars apiece for each 
man, woman, and child in Great Britain and Ireland. 
These investments in financial undertakings in all 
parts of the world carry with them opportunity not 
only for the lower ranks of the British population, 



xviii ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

but also for all ranks of people in the countries bene- 
fited by these outlays of capital. 

The Established Chuech as the Chief Edu- 
CATioi^AL PowEE. — The English act of 1839, ap- 
propriating £30,000 for education in England, was 
passed about the time Horace Mann was beginning 
his gigantic efforts for the improvement of the com- 
mon schools of Massachusetts. The church had in 
charge the education of the English people up to 
this time, and it was the church in all countries that 
had looked after education through the centuries up 
to the time that Erederick the Great first moved in 
the matter of people's schools. In England, as in- 
deed in all European countries, the idea of caste is 
firmly established. Education seeks to fit the in- 
dividual for his station in life. Each caste seeks to 
establish its class privileges and defend itself against 
the castes above and the castes below it. But from 
the beginning the church has trained for its sacred 
offices men from the lowest ranks equally with the 
highest, and persons of the humblest birth have been 
able to mount to the highest ecclesiastical places. 
This is the democracy of the church. But this is 
more characteristic of the Catholic Church than of 
the English Established Church. While the first 
born of the nobility and of the gentry inherit the 



PREFACE XIX 

rank, titles, and wealth of their station, the younger 
brothers find places in the army or positions in the 
government at home or abroad, and many of the 
younger sons enter the church. The endowments 
of the church have come in past times from those 
who owned the wealth of Great Britain, and the 
livings created by these endowments go mostly to 
younger sons and younger branches of the aristo- 
cratic families. This is the aristocracy of the 
church. 

While the Established Church is sacred and 
treated with deference, having its adequate repre- 
sentation in the upper house of Parliament, the dis- 
senters are tolerated, merely, but not tolerated be- 
cause of their deserts and the respectability of their 
cause, but by reason of the strength which they show 
politically. As they have to be reckoned with they 
command a certain degree of tolerance and respect. 
But as to their cause they are regarded by official re- 
spectability as not only in error but as in some de- 
gree sinful in manifesting a reprobate perverseness 
which they have to answer for in the sight of 
Heaven. 

There is a progress from age to age in this matter 
of toleration, but it is slow ; indeed it appears exas- 
peratingly slow to the dissenters themselves in Eng- 



XX ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

land and to people of the same views residing in the 
British colonies and in the United States. 

The English Church furnished the old education 
according to caste, teaching each individual the man- 
ners and aspirations fit for his caste, teaching to every 
one the Christian view of the world, and appealing 
powerfully to the religious sense of all by its ritual, 
its music, and its solemn festivals and significant 
ceremonial. 

The church education in religion and manners 
was so important that the proposed secular school 
education in arithmetic, geography, history, reading, 
and writing, and select specimens from the richest 
literature in the world did not seem to have any at- 
traction for the majority of the nation. The school 
education proposed was looked upon as a godless edu- 
cation not needed by the lower castes, a barren intel- 
lectual repast not to be compared with the education 
given by the church in religious duties and the 
catechism. 

Meanwhile science has arisen in the opposite 
camp, the camp of the dissenters, and has attacked 
the basis of all this teaching, beautiful and edifying 
as it is, given by the church. 

Free thought and investigation has invented what 
it is pleased to call " the higher criticism " and has 



PREFACE xxi 

attacked the doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible. 
The influence of Bible language and modes of view- 
ing the world when set apart and consecrated as it 
were for the use of the church, has been and is one 
of the most important " evidences of Christianity." 
But all this is very much weakened when the Bible 
is reduced to the common order of secular experience, 
for it deprives the church of its chief instrument in 
addressing the religious sense. 

^tsTatural science and philology come as reenforce- 
ments to the dissenter in England who attacks the 
church as the possessor of the sole right to the educa- 
tion of the people. 

This explains the great struggles that have gone 
on for more than half a century in England. It has 
been the struggle on the one hand of the dissenters, 
who are especially numerous in cities, to get posses- 
sion of the control of their own schools, and on the 
other hand the struggle of the Established Church 
with all the prestige it has to hold secure possession 
of its inestimable right of educating the entire peo- 
ple in its parochial schools. 

In other countries of Europe there come violent 
upheavals of public opinion, cataclysms which shatter 
the defenses of time-honored authority and prestige. 
These upheavals are more or less modeled on the 



xxii ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

French revolution. But in England there are no 
revolutions of this kind, for the conservative forces 
yield slowly to the pressure when it becomes irresist- 
ible and manage to bring forward the reform meas- 
ures contended for by the opposite camp. The new 
reform measures are thus administered by the con- 
servative parties who manage in this way to retain 
control. It follows as a matter of course that the 
victory gained becomes more or less of a defeat in the 
subsequent administration of the reform. 

But there are no Waterloo defeats in Great 
Britain. The contest is settled step by step with 
such small advances and such modifications as arise 
from yielding on both sides what seems to be least 
important or too extreme to command a political 
majority of votes — in the parish, in the county, in 
the city, or in Parliament. The church will hold its 
own, but it will do it by permitting and acknowledg- 
ing from time to time a triumph of the opposing 
party in some particular and then converting the new 
measure as much as possible by compromise to its 
purpose. 

Perhaps the most important instrumentality of 
the conservative classes in Great Britain is their con- 
stant effort to proselyte to their way of thinking the 
fringe of the dissenting party that can be changed by 



PREFACE xxiii 

personal attention and by the attraction of recog- 
nition on the part of the old and established order, as 
well as by the education of the youth of all well-to-do 
people at Oxford and Cambridge. 

W. T. Harris. 

Washington, DC, July 23, 1903. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



The progress of the last thirty years in elemen- 
tary instruction forms one of the brightest chapters 
in the history of Great Britain. 

During my recent residence in London and Oxford 
for the greater part of a year I gave my time mainly 
to visiting schools, conferring with teachers and oth- 
ers interested in education, and in availing myself 
of the abundant facilities for studying the origin and 
progress of the elementary schools of England fur- 
nished by the library of the British Museum. If I 
should name those who have helped me, and to whom 
I desire to express my gratitude, the list would be 
long, but I can not refrain from making special men- 
tion of Sir Joshua Fitch, to whom I am under lasting 
obligation; of Mr. Joseph H. Cowham, of the West- 
minster Training-College; and of Miss Elizabeth P. 
Hughes, eminent as a teacher in Cambridge and for 
many other services to the cause of education in Eng- 
land. I have omitted a list of the several reports 
and books that I have consulted in preparing this 



XXVI ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

little volume, as it would savor more of pedantry than 
of utility to note them. m 

The secondary schools of England, especially the' 
great public schools, have received much attention 
on the part of Americans; the elementary schools 
have received little. Many elements in the progress 
of our primary-school system are traceable to Ger-' 
many, few to England. In colonial days our schools 
were in form largely English; but at the first they 
contained the germs of a new life which evolved a 
system of free public schools covering our land, when 
the civic duty of educating all the children within the 
limits of the state was still regarded by the majority 
of the people of England, as " the stuff that dreams 
are made of." 

The meager attempts of former times to provide 
for the education of children, in the light of a more 
pervasive philanthropy, a wiser patriotism, and a 
broader sympathy, are seen by the people of Eng 
land to have been unworthy of a great people. 

It has been said that no one knows his native Ian 
guage who knows it alone. It is equally true that no 
one knows the system of education in his own land 
who knows it alone. We may learn much from the 
elementary schools of England. 

The Irish system of elementary schools, owing to 
peculiar social conditions, differs in very many details 
from that of England and Scotland. A study of it 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxvu 

does not promise m"ucli help to teachers and others 
interested in education ; hence I have closed the pres- 
ent volume with an outline of the elementary schools 
of Scotland. 

In the following pages I have denoted the central 
education authority of England and Wales by the 
term Education Department. The central authority, 
in accordance with the Act of 1899, has been reor- 
ganized under the title Board of Education. This 
Act of reorganization went into operation April 1, 
1900. At the close of the first chapter some of the 
new and important provisions of the Act are outlined. 

The account of the schools of England and Wales 
closes with the Act of 1902. The Act, as printed by 
order of Parliament, is here given with brief com- 
ments. This Act is second in importance only to that 
of 1870, by which the system of public elementary 
schools was established. 

J. C. Geeenough. 



CO]S'TE]SrTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Origin and Development of the Schools of 

England and Wales 1 

Attitude of the state toward popular education pre- 
vious to 1870 — Views of Cobbett and Disraeli — The first 
parliamentary grant " for the purposes of education " 
— The interest of the youthful Queen in the educational 
movement — Organization of the Department of Educa- 
tion — Condition of the elementary schools — Measures 
taken to secure better teachers — The educational policy 
of England and Prussia compared — The Royal Com- 
mission of 1858 — Payment according to results — Justin 
McCarthy's view of the situation — Debates in Parlia- 
ment previous to the passage of the Act of 1870, occa- 
sioned by the " religious diiBculty " — New provisions of 
the Act — Increase of school-buildings — School attend- 
ance — County councils — Increased expenditure for 
schools — Better modes of inspection — Criticism of In- 
spector Holmes — Increasing interest in popular instruc- 
tion — Elementary schools in charge of Home Office 
— Charity Commission, local government board, and 
Lords of Admiralty. 

CHAPTER II 

The Religious Question in England and Wales . 49 

Attitude of the Anglican Church in 1870 — The Con- 
science Clause — Objects of religious instruction in 
3 xxix 



XXX ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 

PAGE 

Church schools — Syllabus of Scripture lessons in the 
board schools of London — Thoroughness and interest 
in Scripture lessons in board schools ; statements of Sir 
John Gorst — Testimony of H. M. Asquith, M. P., and 
of Sir Joshua Fitch — Origin of British and Foreign 
School Society — Origin of the National Society — Found- 
ing of training-colleges — Some conditions of admission 
to Anglican training-colleges — Economical and relig- 
ious reasons for maintaining Anglican schools — State- 
ments of member of Parliament from Carnarvon — In- 
crease of influence of the clergy, especially in rural 
districts — General attitude of the Church party — In- 
crease of board schools in towns — Attempt to "capture 
the board schools " — Effects of increasing ritualism — 
Influence of the Anglican Church upon Bible study — 
Bible study as stated by Matthew Arnold. 

CHAPTER III 

Training-Colleges in England and Wales . . 83 

Monitorial schools of Lancaster and Bell— The Moni- 
torial School in Portland, Me. — Effect of monitorial 
system upon the monitors — Other results of monitorial 
schools — Appropriation for State Normal School and 
founding of the first training-colleges — Contemporane- 
ous movements in Massachusetts — Increase of training- 
colleges — The pupil-teacher system — Objections of non- 
conformists to Anglican training-colleges — Examina- 
tion of candidates for admission to training-colleges — 
Defects of preparation for training-colleges — Govern- 
ment aid to students in training-colleges — Reading for 
university examinations — Multiplicity of examinations 
— Students in practising schools — Supervision of stu- 
dents in practising schools — Modes of training in the 
art of teaching — Definition of education and of teach- 
ing — Principles of teaching — Heuristic teaching and 
lecturing — Model lessons in training-colleges — Criti- 
cism lessons in Borough Road College — Criticism lessons 
in Wcsleyaii College — Some account of Slockwell Col- 



CONTENTS xxxi 



lege — Practising schools — Optional third year— Stu- 
dents of pedagogy on the Continent and in America — 
Eecreation rooms — Out-of-door sports — Aspirations of 
students in training-colleges — Professional enthusiasm 
of elementary teachers in England and in the United 
States — Teachers' associations — The National Union. 



CHAPTER IV 
Conclusions . 148 

School-buildings — Building rules — Curriculum of ele- 
mentary schools, outline of — Methods of teaching — Use 
of blackboards — The medieval method — Examinations 
— Applied psychology — The proper work of a primary 
or elementary school — The distinctive work of the sec- 
ondary school — The teacher as a student of psychology 
— Supply of teachers, why inadequate — Permanence of 
teachers — Text-books — English literature — History and 
geography — Coeducation — Relations of teachers and 
pupils — Out-of-door sports — The English system, na- 
tional — Evidences of progress — Act of 1903. 

CHAPTER V 

The Elementary Schools of Scotland. . . 240 
The Reformation and the schools — John Knox — Revo- 
lutionary settlement, 1696— Act of 1861 — Tolerance of 
the Presbyterian Church — Report of commissioners for 
Scotland, 1867 — Objections to the working of Vice- 
President Lowe's revised code — Sir Henry Craik — 
Good results of parish and other schools previous to 
1872— The broader provisions of the Act of 1872 for 
Scotland — Sectarian schools in Scotland, as compared 
with those of England — Extension of school boards — 
Organization of Education Department — Substitution 
of board for voluntary schools — Unity of religious sen- 
timents — Scotland's appreciation of education — Sir 
William Harcourt — School attendance vigorously en- 
forced — Commission of 1882 — Additional provision for 



xxxii ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 



instruction in advanced studies in 1892 — Provision for 
the education of the blind and deaf — Industrial schools 
— The Scotch in valuing education are rivals of the 
Swiss — The elementary school system more efi&cient be- 
cause of the absence of a dominant aristocracy. 

Index 263 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF 
ENGLAND AND WALES 



CHAPTER I 

OEIGm AND DEVELOPMENT 

The public elementary-school system now pro- 
viding for the instruction of all children of school age 
in the British Isles dates from 1870. The Education 
Act of that year for England and Wales, to be fol- 
lowed two years later by an act for Scotland, was the 
outcome of the democratic revolution which led to the 
Reform Bill of 1867-'68. The Liberals in 1868 were 
in power. Parliament, under the leadership of the 
Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone, extended the right of 
suffrage to a large class hitherto excluded from taking 
any part in the national Government. " Let us edu- 
cate our new masters," said Mr. Lowe, then member 
of the House of Commons, as he saw millions of the 
common people of the realm about to exercise an 
authority in public affairs for which they were hardly 
prepared. 

Previous to 1870 the state had generally ignored 
its duty to provide for the education of children. 



2 ENGLAND AND WALES 

This duty belonged to parents, and they were not to 
be interfered with in its discharge. In 1833 the House 
of Commons made its first grant " for the purposes of 
education/' voting £20,000. In this grant there was 
no proper recognition of the duty of the state to pro- 
vide for the education of the children within its limits. 
The meager appropriation was made in a niggardly 
spirit. Cobbett even, one of the most progressive 
men of his times, was a vigorous objector to the grant. 
" Take two men, one that can plow and make hurdles 
and be a good shepherd, and one that can plow and 
read, and the first," he said, " is the best man." To 
this statement some one replied in the Guardian : " If 
reading is such an injury to the working man, why 
does Mr. Cobbett continue to inflict further injury 
by writing articles week after week in the Poor Man's 
Guardian, which is chiefly circulated among working 
men? " Cobbett described the grant as a movement 
"to increase the number of school masters and mis- 
tresses, that new class of idlers." 

In 1839, when a plan of national education was 
debated in the House of Commons, Disraeli said that 
the theory was specious, but he doubted whether it 
were authorized and supported by facts, and whether 
it were consonant with the experience of the people of 
Great Britain. He added that nearly all that had 
been done had been effected by individual enterprise; 
that it always had been held that the individual should 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 3 

be strong and the government weak, and tliat to di- 
minish the duties of the citizens was to peril the rights 
of the subjects; that wherever was found what was 
called paternal government was found a state educa- 
tion; that it had been discovered that the best way to 
secure implicit obedience was to commence tyranny 
in the nursery; that the truth was, where elementary 
instruction was left to the government the subject be- 
came a machine; that if the movers of this measure 
persisted and succeeded, they would eventually find 
that they had revolutionized English character, and 
when that was effected they could no longer expect 
English achievements; and that he should oppose to 
the utmost of his power this rash attempt to centralize 
instruction. 

Such was the specious argument and such the 
wisdom of one of the most eminent statesmen of 
England when Germany was laying the broad founda- 
tions of her prosperity in her improved method of 
public instruction, and Massachusetts, by the estab- 
lishment of a board of education and by the founding 
of normal schools, was opening a new era in the his- 
tory of her public schools and in the schools of the 
United States. 

The £20,000 appropriated by the House of Com- 
mons in 1833, the first appropriation made by Parlia- 
ment " for the purposes of education," avoided the 
fatal attack that awaited it in the House of Lords by 



4 ENGLAND AND WALES 

being put in tlie form of a vote of supply. Such 
votes became law without the concurrent action of the 
upper house. This grant and those in subsequent 
years were regarded in the nature of charities. 

Day-schools quite inadequate in number and in 
equipment left a large portion of the children with- 
out any suitable instruction. Teachers were often 
gray-haired dames whose chief recommendation was 
their poverty, or men physically or mentally in- 
capable of efficient service. These teachers eked out 
a scanty supply of food and raiment with the penny 
fees received from parents. The great public schools 
of England, such as Eton, Westminster, and others, 
had been founded long before, but these were now in- 
accessible to children of the working classes. 

As, previous to 1839, there was no central depart- 
ment of state to disburse parliamentary grants for 
education, these were disbursed mainly by two socie- 
ties. One of these, the National Society for Pro- 
moting the Education of the Poor in the Principles 
of the Established Church, had large resources and 
was the more influential. A prime object of this 
society evidently was to " lengthen the cords and 
strengthen the stakes " of the Established Church, 
and thus to promote the religious welfare of the peo- 
ple. The other, the British and Foreign School 
Society, claiming to be equally loyal to religious in- 
terests, secured the sympathy and support of the non- 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 5 

conformists. It was formed in 1808 to aid in carry- 
ing forward the work of Joseph Lancaster, famous as 
one of the founders of monitorial schools. In schools 
aided by this society the Bible was read and stud- 
ied, but all sectarian teaching was disallowed. For 
several years the parliamentary grants were used by 
these societies in building schoolhouses in the com- 
munities where at least one-half of the expense of 
building was paid by subscription. Thus, as has often 
been remarked in the distribution of Parliament 
grants, those least needing aid received the most. 

The convictions and the courage of the youthful 
Queen were with the House of Commons in their 
slender endeavors to aid elementary instruction in the 
realm, year by year, by voting an appropriation in 
the form of a bill of supply. In 1839 she published 
an order in Council in accordance with which a com- 
mittee of the Privy Council consisting of four men 
was appointed to administer the annual grant of the 
House of Commons. The House of Lords saw that 
this measure not only evaded their opposition, but 
tended also to perpetuate the policy of aiding ele- 
mentary instruction by parliamentary grants. They 
tried to defeat the measure by a petition addressed to 
the Queen indicating their disapproval. In her reply, 
refusing for good reasons to accede to the petition, 
occurs this sentence of queenly rebuke : " I can not 
help expressing my regret that you should have 



6 ENGLAND AND WALES 

thought it necessary to take such a step on the present 
occasion." 

This committee of the Privy Council, thus estab- 
lished in 1839, constituted the head of the Depart- 
ment of Education for the United Kingdom. It con- 
sisted of the president of the Council, who was also 
a member of the House of Lords and of the Cabinet, 
and the vice-president, who was a member of the 
House of Commons, and two others, whose duties were 
for the most part advisory. Since 1886 the vice- 
president, the active Minister of Education, has had a 
seat on the Government benches in the House of Com- 
mons, and has been appointed by the Prime Minister. 
This official by some Premiers has been included in 
the Cabinet. The chief of the administrative force 
of the Council or Committee of Education is their 
secretary. He and his subordinates, including a 
large clerical force, hold office independent of parlia- 
mentary changes. Many of the measures for the im- 
provement of the schools urged in the House of 
Commons are first planned by the secretary. His 
Majesty's inspectors, nearly 100 in number, se- 
lected by the Council, but nominally appointed by 
the sovereign, since 1839, advise concerning the con- 
duct of the schools, and, assisted by subinspectors 
and other subordinates, determine by careful inspec- 
tion the condition of every school applying for its 
share of the parliamentary grant. The inspectors 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 7 

with their subordinates are supervised by 12 of his 
Majesty's chief inspectors, who are under the super- 
vision and direction of his Majesty's senior chief in- 
spector, a sort of primus inter pares. 

Two chief inspectors are detailed to inspect the 
training-colleges in England and Wales. Thus the 
Government inspectors are a sort of hierarchy, whose 
duties in general are to inspect all elementary schools 
and to advise the teachers and local managers respect- 
ing the application of the code of management and in- 
struction annually prepared by the secretary of the 
Council of Education and submitted to Parliament 
for approval. The parliamentary grant is distributed 
in accordance with the reports of his Majesty's in- 
spectors. The basis of apportionment is now mainly 
the number of pupils in average attendance and the 
efficiency of the school. 

The people of England have ever cherished local 
government, and have considered centralization of 
civil affairs, unless the public welfare clearly de- 
manded it, a hindrance to individual enterprise and at 
variance with civil freedom. During the last century 
civil power has more and more passed from the aris- 
tocracy to the common people. It has been estimated 
that only one in fifty of the inhabitants of the United 
Kingdom could vote in 1837. One in six now has the 
right of suffrage. As a result local government has 
been reenforced in many ways. As the parliamen- 



8 ENGLAND AND WALES 

tary grants for the elementary schools have largely 
increased since 1870 and the Educational Depart- 
ment has become more completely organized, the tend- 
ency to substitute the central for the local manage- 
ment has increased. To meet this, the inspectors are 
clearly instructed that the conduct of the schools be- 
longs to the local managers, and that their responsi- 
bility for the excellence or defect of the schools is in 
no way to be diminished. While the English strive 
to secure unity and efficiency by organization, they 
dread an enfeebling paternalism. 

But to return to the condition of the elementary 
schools in 1839 and the years immediately following. 
The inspectors found the schools shamefully inade- 
quate to the number and the needs of the children, 
and very many of the teachers sadly incompetent. 
Eight years later, Macaulay, speaking of these teach- 
ers in the House of Commons, said : " How many of 
these men are now the refuse of other callings, dis- 
carded servants, or ruined tradesmen, who can not do 
a sum of three; who do not know whether the earth 
is a cube or a sphere, and can not tell whether Jerusa- 
lem is in Asia or America ; and who would not be able 
to write a common letter ? " In the discussion, an- 
other member of the House quoted the words of one 
of the school-dames, " It's little they pays us, and it's 
little we teaches them." In one of the schools of 
Yorkshire an inspector asked a teacher why he did 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 9 

Hot teacli aritlimetic in Ms school. " Because I know 
nothing about it," was the honest reply. At this time 
less than two-thirds of the children in England and 
Wales between the ages of five and thirteen were re- 
turned as attending school. 

The crying need of competent teachers for elemen- 
tary schools induced Parliament to make a grant of 
£10,000 for the purpose of establishing a normal 
school. This enabled the ^National Society to open 
St. Mark's Training-College at Chelsea, in 1841, and 
the British and Foreign School Society to open an- 
other training-school in the Borough Road, London, 
in 1842. Much of the progress of this period was 
due to Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth. Before 1846 
some seven other training-colleges were established, 
but the candidates for training were not abundant, 
many of those admitted to the colleges were inferior 
in ability and acquisitions, and the instruction they 
received was very limited. 

In 1846 the Department of Education made 
many progressive changes. To improve the teach- 
ing force, they provided, by the assistance of Par- 
liament, for larger grants to pupil-teachers — i. e., 
pupils in elementary schools who teach part of 
the school hours — that they might be better trained 
and be substituted more rapidly for the more tran- 
sient and inferior monitors, yet very generally em- 
ployed. 



10 ENGLAND AND WALES 

Pupil-teachers were to receive £10 tlie first year, 
with 25 per cent increase each year until the five 
years of their apprenticeship were finished. Grants 
were also made to head-masters for instructing pupil- 
teachers. Those pupil-teachers who passed a success- 
ful examination for admission to a training-college 
were to be known as Queen's scholars, and to receive, 
if especially successful, a prize or grant to assist in 
meeting the expenses of the course in the training- 
college. To further reduce these expenses, grants 
were to be made to training-colleges for each student 
in attendance, provided there was evidence of good 
progress in the annual examinations. In the years 
following, the larger number of candidates qualified 
to enter the training-colleges and the grants received 
greatly strengthened these colleges or normal schools 
and led to the founding of additional schools or col- 
leges for training. 

The increase of the force of inspectors and the 
larger annual grants of Parliament in 1846 and the 
years following showed that the state was beginning 
to feel its responsibility for the condition of the 
schools of the realm. The policy, however, was main- 
tained that the amount received from the state by a 
school should be proportioned to the amount sub- 
scribed by its patrons, which left the more ignorant 
and needy children, for the most part, without any 
suitable instruction. The state maintained that it 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 11 

was the duty of parents to provide for the education 
of their children, but failed to recognize the truth so 
aptly stated by Lecky: "Education in its simplest 
form, which is one of the first and highest human in- 
terests, is a matter in which government initiation 
and direction are emphatically required, for unin- 
structed people will never demand it, and to appre- 
ciate education is itself a consequence of education." 
The principles in accord with which German states, 
especially Prussia, had maintained public schools re- 
veal the secret of the superiority of elementary 
schools in Germany as compared with those of Eng- 
land. Some one has formulated these principles: 
" It is my duty to myself to develop to the utmost 
the powers with which I am endowed; it is my duty 
toward my neighbor to help him develop his ; we can 
best help each other through the state; the state, 
therefore, establishes a complete system of education, 
making the lowest kind imperative for all and the 
highest accessible to all." 

A " royal commission " was appointed in 1858 
" to inquire into the state of popular education in 
England and as to measures required for the exten- 
sion of sound and cheap elementary instruction to all 
classes of people." In 1861 the six volumes of their 
report appeared, giving abundant evidence of a dis- 
position to speak approvingly of the schools, while 
they were compelled to speak clearly of their ineffi- 



12 ENGLAND AND WALES 

ciencj, their failure to secure adequate results, and 
the crying evil of non-attendance. 

At the time of the publication of this report, Mr. 
Robert Lowe, then vice-president of the .Council of 
Education, was strenuously laboring to rouse the 
schools from the lethargy that seemed to have long 
rested upon them. He published the revised code, in- 
cluding all of the minutes issued by the Educational 
Department. In accordance with this code, embody- 
ing the laws of the realm pertaining to the conduct of 
schools by managers, and teachers, payments were to 
be made from the parliamentary grants to local man- 
agers of schools according to results attained in read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic, though payments might 
be awarded for additional results in grammar, geog- 
raphy, and history. The results in each of the 
studies were to be determined by individual examina- 
tions of pupils conducted by her Majesty's inspectors 
and their assistants. This system held sway for 
several years. Soon, however, such statements as the 
following began to appear in the annual reports of the 
inspectors : " The tendency of the new code," says 
one inspector, " is to cause the managers and teachers 
to regard simply the pecuniary grants, and all that 
does not tend to produce an increased result is hardly 
taken into account.'' Grammar, geography, history, 
and other subjects are now, as might be expected, 
comparatively neglected for the more profitable ele- 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 13 

mentary R's, nor has the inspector time to lay great 
stress upon them/' To make every pupil " rate per- 
fect in the three R's " was the profitable thing pecuni- 
arily to do. If a boy could write and state the shib- 
boleths of these, whatever might be his ignorance, 
whatever the method by which he was taught, he 
could help, by mechanically preparing for examina- 
tion, to " earn the grant '' to the school. As the 
grade of the pupil was also determined by the ex- 
aminations, these were solemn, if not tearful, exer- 
cises. As payments were now made from the na- 
tional treasury to the managers, rather than as here- 
tofore in part to teachers, the latter were no longer 
recognized as in direct relations to the central depart- 
ment, but were wholly at the mercy of the local man- 
agers. These could drive close bargains with teachers 
and make the salary small, however large might be 
the parliamentary grants. It seemed to many man- 
agers thrifty business to make any loss in receipts 
from the national treasury owing to the failures of 
pupils in examinations the loss of the teacher. The 
grant of Parliament to any school was not allowed to 
exceed the amount raised by subscriptions and fees, 
and if these in any locality were very generous, the 
parliamentary grants would be correspondingly less, 
for in no case was a school aided by these grants to 
receive in all more than 15 shillings per annum per 
pupil to the pupils in average attendance. The in- 



14: ENGLAND AND WALES 

come of the schools did not increase nor did tlie 
schools improve in their methods of work. Sub- 
scriptions in many localities diminished, fees were low- 
ered, and cheaper teachers were hired. Very poor 
teachers would suffice when pupils could be prepared 
for examination by learning to state answers or write 
them without knowledge of their meaning. Matthew 
Arnold, one of his Majesty's inspectors, said in one of 
his reports: "The mode of teaching has fallen ofi 
in intelligence, spirit, and inventiveness. It could 
not well be otherwise. In a country where every one 
is prone to rely too much on mechanical processes 
and too little on intelligence, a change in the Educa- 
tion Department's regulations, which, by making two- 
thirds of the Government grant depend upon a me- 
chanical examination, inevitably gives a mechanical 
turn to the inspection, is, and must be, trying to the 
life of a school." Education, as determined by the 
study of children or by the recognized laws of mental 
activity, could not be expected. The rack of exami- 
nation was ever in full view of teachers and pupils. 
Mr. Lowe said to an inspector who called to consult 
with him : " I know what you have come about — the 
science of education. There is none." His policy 
was in accord with his belief. Another inspector, 
who had evidently surrendered himself to the mechan- 
ism of the department, wrote, " The studies of the 
class room must be those wherein progress can be 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 15 

definitely measured by examination," and teachers of 
elementary schools were compelled by circumstances 
to respond in deeds if not in words, " Amen." 

The retrenchment consequent upon the failures of 
pupils in examination fell largely upon teachers. 
This tended to narrow the work of the schools to 
" earning grants," and to drive really good teachers 
to other employments. Excellence of teaching under 
such conditions could not be expected. The watch- 
words of those in Parliament who had championed 
the plan of "payment by results" had been: "If 
the new system will not be cheap, it will be efficient, 
and if it will not be efficient, it will be cheap." It 
was efficient in developing mechanical methods, and 
it was cheap. 

Yet this mechanical period in the history of the 
schools of England was not without some good re- 
sults. Sir Henry Craik, one of the most efficient 
educational officers that has hitherto graced the ad- 
ministration of the schools of Scotland, says : " The 
application of the somewhat military methods of Mr. 
Lowe and his associates to the schools was productive 
of some good results. The irregular and careless 
ways of managing the business of the schools were 
checked, fewer pupil-teachers were employed, the 
number of certificated teachers was largely increased, 
and as every pupil was a candidate for examination, 
the teachers no longer sought reputation by training 



16 ENGLAND AND WALES 

first classes for exhibition, to tlie neglect of duller 
and slower pupils." 

A better era for the schools of England, and 
eventually for the United Kingdom, was at hand, but 
before considering it we may dismiss the period we 
have already considered with the words of Justin Mc- 
Carthy in his History of our Own Times: "The 
manner in which England had long neglected the 
education of her poor children had long been a re- 
proach to her civilization. She was behind every 
other great country in the world; she was behind most 
countries that in no wise professed to be great. 
. . . Private charity was eked out in a parsimoni- 
ous and miserable manner by a scanty dole from the 
state, and, as a matter of course, where the direst 
poverty prevailed, and ^aturally brought the ex- 
tremest need for assistance to education, there the 
wants of the people were least efficiently supplied. 
For years the statesmanship of England had been 
kept from any serious attempt to grapple with the evil 
by the doctrine that popular education might not be 
the business of the Government." 

In 1868, as we have said, the Liberal party came 
into power. Gladstone was Prime Minister. The 
conviction that more and better schools must be I 
provided had been increasing for years. In 1870 the 
Education Act was introduced into Parliament. Its 
object was to make provision for the instruction of all 



I 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 17 

children of school age in England and Wales. 
Similar legislation respecting Scotland and Ireland 
was to follow at an early date. In preliminary de- 
bates the Liberals warmly supported the bill. Many 
of these were non-conformists, and they ardently 
hoped or confidently expected that the bill when com- 
pleted would provide a system of national schools 
from which denominational teaching would be ex- 
cluded. " They laid down the broad principle," says 
McCarthy, " that no state aid whatever should be 
given to any schools but those which were conducted 
on strictly secular and undenominational principles. 
It ought to be superfluous to say that the non-con- 
formists did not object to the religious education of 
children. It ought not to be supposed for a moment 
that they attached less importance to religious in- 
struction than any other body of persons. Their 
principle was that public money, the contributions of 
citizens of all shades of belief, ought only to be given 
for such teaching as the common opinion of the coun- 
try was agreed upon." 

While the non-conformists stoutly maintained a 
great general principle to be observed in administer- 
ing funds raised by general taxation for education, 
yet it must be admitted that their opposition to sec- 
tarian teaching was increased by the fact that most 
of the existing elementary schools were connected 
with the Established Church, and that to use public 



18 ENGLAND AND WALES 

funds in aid of these schools and allow them to con- 
tinue the teaching of denominational dogmas would 
be an efficient means of strengthening the influence 
and power of that Church — a Church that never 
favored and often stoutly opposed the growth of 
other Protestant churches. 

The supporters of the schools of the Established 
Church, " voluntary schools '' as they were called, 
urged that hitherto these schools, at large private ex- 
pense, had furnished buildings, apparatus, and teach- 
ers for the instruction of the majority of the chil- 
dren of England and Wales; hence that to withhold 
parliamentary grants from these schools would be un- 
just; that economy required Parliament to utilize the 
means of education already secured and so long fos- 
tered by private gifts and public grants; and that the 
moral and religious welfare of the state demanded 
the maintenance of the Church schools. Earnest 
Churchmen felt that unless the influence of the 
Church was continued in the elementary schools they 
would become godless schools, dangerous to public 
and to private morality. But many of the Liberal 
party were determined to so modify the act before its 
final passage that no sectarian teaching should be al- 
lowed in any elementary school receiving parliamen- 
tary grants. But at a certain stage in the prolonged 
debate it was agreed to supplement and not to sup- 
plant the Church or voluntary schools. A compro- 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 19 

mise in the form of a " conscience clause " was at 
length reached. A pupil was not to be required to 
attend any place of worship or Sunday-school or to re- 
ceive any religious instruction to which his parents or 
guardians objected. Any religious instruction or ob- 
servance in a school must be at the beginning or end 
of school sessions, and no benefits should be forfeited 
if the pupil was withdrawn from religious exercises. 

Though a large section of the Liberal party voted 
against the act, it was enacted, owing to the favoring 
votes of the Conservatives. The compromise embod- 
ied in the conscience clause has never been regarded as 
ultimate by Churchmen or by non-conformists. 

The act of 1870 included three new provisions: a 
compulsory local rate — i. e., a tax levied on the pro- 
ductive value of property — to provide elementary 
schools in localities where voluntary schools were un- 
able to make needed provision; representative local 
authorities called school boards to manage the board 
schools to be established under the provisions of the 
act; and the compulsory attendance of children. 

The voluntary schools were to provide elemen- 
tary instruction as heretofore, and in any locality 
requiring additional school accommodations those 
who favored voluntary schools might by subscriptions 
provide them. Applications for parliamentary aid 
in construction of new buildings for these schools 
might be made to the Educational Department during 



20 ENGLAND AND WALES 

the remainder of the year 1870. If measures were 
not taken to provide adequate schools by voluntary 
effort, the community was to elect a school board 
which, by local rates and parliamentary grants, was 
to provide schools needed in order to furnish elemen- 
tary instruction to all of school age. The school 
board was to levy rates and to organize and manage 
these schools. The matter of compulsory attendance 
was to be determined by school boards having author- 
ity to make by-laws enforcing attendance. The old 
English notions respecting parental rights hindered 
the enactment of a general compulsory law. The at- 
tempt to compel attendance in many communities 
was ineffectual, until the act of 1880, when complete 
attendance at school was made compulsory for all 
children under ten. Some communities, however, like 
Birmingham, availed themselves of the compulsory 
provision of 1870 at once, by electing a school board 
and enforcing attendance. 

In many communities the taxpayers found they 
would have to pay less money in helping voluntary 
schools to provide additional accommodations than in 
establishing board schools. Hence the desire of 
heavy taxpayers tb save money led them to join hands 
with the clergy and others zealous in gathering chil- 
dren into Church schools. The clergy especially dep- 
recated the setting up of board schools, and urged 
that the Church schools should be so cared for and in- 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 21 

creased that there would be no place for board schools. 
Mr. Holman, his Majesty's inspector, says: " One of 
the most striking immediate results of the passing of 
the act was the comparatively enormous applications 
for building grants. The Church party was called 
upon to make full use of the grace allowed them, and 
manfully responded to the call. 'No less than 3,111 
applications were made, of which, however, 1,332 
were withdrawn in less than five months, the usual 
rate having been in former years 150 a year." While 
the Established Church was especially active in pro- 
moting its interests, it must not be inferred that the 
Methodists and other non-conformist bodies were lack- 
ing in denominational zeal, though some of these 
would gladly have transferred their schools to boards 
— representative bodies — could they have known that 
the Established Church would do the same. 

Mr. Forster, who as vice-president of the Council 
framed the act and whose name it bears, made the 
parish in rural communities instead of the union or 
the county, the area to be considered in providing 
schools, thus intensifying the denominational feeling 
and exposing very many of the schools to the narrow 
politics and favoritisms of small communities. 

Between 1869 and 1876 more than £3,000,000 
was subscribed for voluntary-school buildings, to 
which sum the state added about one-fifteenth. In 
this way accommodations for 1,600,000 more pupils 



22 ENGLAND AND WALES 

were added. In ten years following the passage of 
tlie act the Church had furnished accommodations for 
nearly 1,000,000 additional pupils. This is a signifi- 
cant comment upon the dire educational needs that 
had hitherto prevailed. The Church at once availed 
itself of the provision of the act allowing voluntary 
inspection during one or two days of a year by organ- 
izing a system of diocesan inspection to plan and test 
the religious instruction. Her Majesty's inspectors 
were to give no attention to religious instruction and 
were not to report thereon. Since 1870 the clergy or 
committees appointed by religious bodies have con- 
tinued to supervise religious instruction in voluntary 
schools, while local managers have carefully planned 
and supervised Scripture lessons in the board schools. 

The supporters of the board schools were hardly 
less active than friends of the voluntary schools. Not 
waiting for a requisition from the department, all 
but one of the boroughs having 50,000 inhabitants 
elected school boards. In 1870 there were no board 
schools. At the close of the century nearly one-half 
of the pupils of England and Wales were in the board 
schools. E'ot many years may elapse before a large 
majority of the pupils will be in these schools of the 
people. 

In 1872 Parliament amended and strengthened 
the act of 1870 and passed a similar act for Scotland 
— a part of the empire which since the time of Knox 



i 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 23 

had a far more honorable record in the annals of ele- 
mentary education than England and Wales. In 
1876 an act was passed which secured the appoint- 
ment of " school attendance committees " to secure 
attendance in parishes and boroughs where there were 
no school boards. Urban sanitary districts could also 
secure the appointment of such committees. Hence- 
forth compulsory laws were more effective. 

By an act passed in 1880 all school boards and at- 
tendance committees were obliged to make by-laws to 
enforce attendance. JSTo pupil between the ages of 
ten and thirteen was hereafter allowed to be absent 
from school unless he had a certificate of having com- 
plied with the requirements of the local school 
authorities fixing the standard that must be reached. 
Allowing local authorities to fix the standard — i. e., 
the grade a pupil must reach before he can be al- 
lowed to leave school — has proved to be an arrange- 
ment that is not effective for good in many communi- 
ties. It is not easy to overcome the traditional inertia 
of the English in this matter. In the elementary 
schools of England there are seven grades, reckoning 
upward from the infant or primary schools; these 
grades are termed standards. Sadler, in his Special 
Eeport of 1897, tells us that one-fifth of the in- 
habitants of England and Wales have their children 
excused from attendance at the fourth standard, and 
that more than 1,000,000 persons are allowed to with- 



24 ENGLAND AND WALES 

draw their children a part of the time as soon as the 
second standard is reached — i. e., as early as the tenth 
year of age. 

Sir John Gorst, when vice-president of the Coun- 
cil and exponent of the Education Department in the 
House of Commons, in one of his recent speeches, 
said: " After twenty-five years of the operation of the 
Act of 1870 there are nearly three-quarters of a mil- 
lion of children whose names ought to be on the books 
of some elementary school, and who do not appear 
there at all — that is, almost one-eighth of the whole 
child population. They escape the school boards, the 
attendance ofiicers, and the Government machinery 
altogether. Of those who are upon the books of the 
elementary schools, nearly one-fifth are continually 
absent." This last sentence refers to the fact that 
the average attendance is not much above 80 per cent 
of the students enrolled. In 1897 it was 81 J per 
cent. Sir John Gorst, in his speech of April 19, 
1898, said: " In the minds of the committee of the 
Council and all persons responsible for the education 
of the country there is no doubt as to what reform is 
most urgent ; ... it is to get more children into the 
existing schools, to get them there in a condition fit 
to receive instruction, and to keep them to an older 
age." 

By the Act of 1893, in force when Sir John Gorst 
made the above statements, children were not to be 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 25 

employed during school hours, whether half-timers or 
not, until they were eleven years of age. In the 
same year provision was made for the instruction of 
children too deaf or blind to be taught in the ordinary 
schools; these are to be in school from seven to sixteen 
years of age. 

By the elementary education acts of 1899 and 
1900 the age of half-timers has been raised from 
eleven to twelve years; the maximum penalty for 
neglect of school attendance has been raised; 350 
attendances per annum for Rve years is required in- 
stead of 250 attendances per annum as heretofore; 
school boards are to revise their by-laws in conformity 
with these recent provisions, though they are not 
under any obligation to make any provision for half- 
timers ; and full-time attendance up to fourteen years 
of age may be enforced, with a proviso for total ex- 
emption of scholars passing the sixth or higher 
standard after twelve years of age. 

In 1888 Parliament passed the Local Government 
Act establishing county councils. These already ex- 
ercise important educational functions in the man- 
agement of technical schools, and it is to be hoped 
that much of the management of schools in petty 
parishes will be transferred to them. When this 
is accomplished, the county council, if properly 
represented and aided by an executive officer, who is 
an expert in school matters, may be able to over- 



26 ENGLAND AND WALES 

come, by the liberal sentiment of a larger area, the 
narrowness that now, in many small communities, 
is so prejudicial to the progress of the elementary 
schools. 

Since 1892 the schools of England and Wales 
have been practically free, as parliamentary grants 
exempt from the compulsory payment of tuition in 
all elementary schools. 

One way of measuring the advance made in the 
schools of England and Wales is to compare the 
money expended in 1870 and in 1899. In 1861 the 
report of the royal commission had shown that less 
than two-thirds of the estimated children in England 
and Wales were returned as attending school at all. 
Hence a large portion of the children of England and 
Wales was not reckoned in 1870 in apportioning 
grants. In 1870 £1 5s. 4:d, was the average expendi- 
ture per pupil. In 1899, provision having been made 
for the instruction of all children of school age, £2 
15s. 7d. was expended per pupil in board schools, and 
£2 5s. l^d. in voluntary schools. The annual ex- 
penditure per pupil has increased in Scotland in about 
the same proportion. Some £10,000,000 are annually 
appropriated by Parliament for schools in England 
and Wales, exclusive of the sums voted to universities 
and colleges. 

A more important evidence of the advance made 
is the better method of inspecting the schools and of 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 27 

apportioning tlie grants, implying as it does broader 
views of education and more competent teachers. 

Yet tlie new method does not award a premium to 
schools of superior excellence. The poorer schools 
are fostered somewhat at the expense of the better. 
The withholding of variable grants based upon the 
proficiency of the pupils in certain studies diminishes 
the amounts received from the national treasury in 
several very progressive cities. In the recent report 
of the School Board of Leeds, a city perhaps second 
to no other in Great Britain in the excellence of her 
elementary schools, occurs this paragraph : " Another 
most important change is connected with the Govern- 
ment code of education. The system of separate 
grants is abolished, and ' block ' grants substituted. 
The ' block ' grant has been based upon the average 
amount earned by the schools throughout the country, 
with the results that the boards which have hitherto 
earned the highest grants will receive a less grant in 
future. The code makes very little difference be- 
tween good and poor schools, and all schools are, as 
a rule, to be assessed as good. Thus school man- 
agers are incited not so much to rise high, as to be 
careful not to fall low. The results of the working of 
this code occasion, therefore, some misgiving." In- 
stead of " earning grants " by a sort of mechanical 
proficiency determined by oral and written examina- 
tions, as previous to 1870 and for many years follow- 



28 ENGLAND AND WALES 

ing, the schools are now inspected in their ordinary 
working. The spirit and earnestness of the pupils, 
the methods by which they are taught, their note- 
books and other graphic work, as well as the results 
of the periodical examinations which teachers give 
under the direction of the local managers — all that 
pertains to the welfare of the schools — are now con- 
sidered. Eeferring to the " revised instructions " 
issued to the inspectors in 1899, we find that the Edu- 
cation Department now " emphasizes, by means of a 
special and graduated grant for ^ discipline and organi- 
zation,' the importance of conduct and moral training 
as essential factors of the success and usefulness 
of a public elementary school," and affirms that 
" experience has proved that efficient school inspec- 
tion of their ordinary working, if supplemented by 
careful periodical examinations as a part of the ordi- 
nary working of the school, is a more real guarantee 
of a proper distribution of public money than an an- 
nual examination, with all its attendant drawbacks." 
Accordingly the code now provides " that at least one 
visit of inspection " by his Majesty's inspectors " shall 
be made to every school in the course of the school 
year, and that it shall usually be followed by a second 
visit of the same nature, unless the school is subject 
to an annual ^dsit." These visits are as a rule with- 
out notice, though notice of the time of a proposed 
visit may be given to secure the presence of the local 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 29 

managers, to secure the attendance of pupil-teachers 
whose teaching is to be inspected, or for other reasons. 
If a school falls below a required standard of excel- 
lence so far that the inspector maj feel that it should 
not be reported as deserving the parliamentary grant, 
the inspector is expected to make an individual exam- 
ination of the pupils in writing before reporting and 
as a means of bringing home to the managers an exact 
knowledge of the condition of the school. 

Some of the advantages of the more liberal and 
comprehensive mode of inspection are: that it re- 
lieves pupils and teachers from much nervous strain; 
gives more prominence to the intellectual power of 
the student than to his facility in memorizing verbal 
statements; puts the periodical individual examina- 
tions into the hands of the local managers, upon whom 
properly rests the responsibility of the conduct of the 
school; leads the inspector to take a broader view, to 
make a juster estimate and to frame a wiser criticism 
of the school, allowing teachers more liberty in teach- 
ing in accordance with principles and in adapting 
their work to the needs of individual pupils; and de- 
mands and strongly tends to secure men skilled in the 
art and wise in the science of teaching to supervise 
and inspect the schools. 

The staff of his Majesty's inspectors belonging to 
the Educational Department consists of a senior chief 
inspector, who is one of the 12 chief inspectors, nearly 



30 ENGLAND AND WALES 

100 inspectors, upward of 50 first-class subinspectors, 
and a much larger number of second-class inspectors. 
There is a special inspector of music, a directress of 
needlework, and an inspectress of cooking and laun- 
dry work. Two of the chief inspectors are appointed 
to inspect the training-colleges. Each of the remain- 
ing 10 supervises a school district. Each district is 
divided into 10 divisions, in which the inspectors and 
subinspectors do their work. Previous to 1882 young 
men who had ranked high in honor at the universi- 
ties, however ignorant they might be of elementary 
education, were appointed inspectors. Since 1882 
some others have been appointed who have special 
qualifications for inspection. The subinspectors are 
largely recruited from the head teachers of the ele- 
mentary schools. Since 1896 a few mistresses have 
been appointed, who have rendered admirable service. 
In the offices of the Education Department the exam- 
iners of the inspectors' reports and of examination and 
other papers are honor men from the universities. 
The term " organizing teacher " is applied to one ap- 
proved by the department who either inspects schools 
and advises managers and teachers in view of the in- 
spector's visit or instructs or examines teachers in 
special subjects or educational methods. 

This hierarchy of inspectors accom.plishes much 
in improving the schools, yet an inspector has no 
power to enforce a change unless it be by reporting 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 31 

the school to be so inferior that the parliamentary 
grant will be withheld. This is seldom done. The 
duties of an inspector admit of helpful criticisms 
to teachers and managers. They are to so perform 
this advisory work as not to relieve the local man- 
agers from any responsibility in the management of 
a school. Still it must be admitted that much of the 
recent progress in elementary schools is the result of 
the counsel and the courage of the inspectors. In 
some of their features a high degree of excellence may 
be claimed for the elementary schools of England, 
but the more progressive teachers of these schools and 
all candid observers of European schools allow that 
the schools of Switzerland and Germany are yet 
clearly superior. 

One of the late chief inspectors notes among the 
prominent hindrances to intellectual development the 
large size of classes, unconnectedness of subjects 
taught, an excessive amount of oral teaching, and the 
employment in some voluntary schools of cheap in- 
competent persons. 

An inspector in one of his late reports says : " The 
old examination stimulus has been withdrawn, and 
the teachers are not yet able to make the best possible 
use of the liberty that has been given them. It is 
probable that the schools, taken as a whole, are neither 
as efficient as they were two or three years ago nor as 
they will be two or three years hence. But this is not 



82 ENGLAND AND WALES 

a matter of very great importance; what is of impor- 
tance is the growing tendency in elementary, as in 
every other grade of education, to do everything for 
the pupil, to coddle him, to spoon-feed him, to tie him 
to his nurse's apron and to keep him in leading- 
strings, to direct his studies for him, to arrange his 
amusements for him, to fill up his leisure for him — 
in short, to do everything for him except what is of 
all things most truly educational, viz., to leave him 
to his own devices and throw him upon his own re- 
sources. ... If we do not do for a pupil what he 
ought to do for himself, we certainly hold his hands 
for him while he is doing it.'' 

It may seem that schools organized under a code 
issued by a central educational department and ap- 
proved by Parliament — schools supervised and ex- 
amined by his Majesty's inspectors, receiving their 
instructions from officers of the central department 
clothed with parliamentary authority, would prove a 
somewhat rigid mechanism, with little capacity of 
adaptation to local needs; but there is much in the 
English temper and tradition that makes for local 
freedom. The parish, the county, and other local 
divisions have rights which no sovereign nor central 
authority can disannul or disregard. Even William 
the Conqueror recognized and permitted the local 
government of the counties. 

Fostered by tradition and supported by common 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 33 

law, local rights can not be set aside by Parliament. 
Hence in planting a school system and in its working 
Parliament has always instructed its agents to advise 
and encourage local managers to take the initiative 
rather than to coerce, ever recognizing, as far as the 
well-being of schools would allow, the right of local 
managers to conduct their own schools. 

The elementary school system of the United King- 
dom was originated when an absolute and aristocratic 
government had gradually yielded its powers to a 
democracy. Ever since the time of Henry YIII this 
change had been going on. The realization of a de- 
mocracy was greatly accelerated during the reign of 
Queen Victoria. The people of the United Kingdom 
to-day maintain one of the most democratic govern- 
ments on the face of the globe. In some of its fea- 
tures it is more democratic than our own. 

An Englishman prizes a strong centralized au- 
thority that will maintain order and conserve the good 
things gained in the past; he equally prizes his indi- 
vidual rights and the heritage of local government, 
which he regards as essential to his manhood. The 
annual issue of an educational code by Parliament he 
approves — ^he does not see how order in school affairs 
and progress can be secured without it — yet he none 
the less insists upon his right to care for the school 
in his own community and to initiate new measures 
demanded by the varying conditions. Through the 



34 ENGLAND AND WALES 

interaction of this localized individualism and the cen- 
tralized authority progress is secured. 

Inspectors are instructed in the applications of 
the code not to detract from the responsibility of local 
managers, not to discourage them from inventing and 
utilizing whatever promises to be reasonably helpful 
to the schools. Mr. Bernard Bosanquet, writing 
from London, says : " The inspector stretches an arti- 
cle of the code to give scope to an exceptional capacity 
in the teacher or to meet a local need. Or he insti- 
tutes an experiment outside the code altogether. He 
brings in ambulance classes, or manual training, or 
teaching of horticulture, under the nearest kindred 
heading of the code. The experiment succeeds. The 
teachers are interested, and work out new methods. 
The children are the better for it, and the local man- 
agers are delighted. All this, in due time, is re- 
ported to the department, not as a mere chimera in 
the inspector's head, but as a hard fact, a local 
achievement. The department, when satisfied that 
the thing is a real improvement, modifies its next issue 
of the code so as positively to suggest the improve- 
ment in the curriculum instead of barely allowing it to 
be possible. The inspector, when an enthusiast, is 
in an ideal position to study the theory of education. 
He will travel in his vacations and observe the systems 
of other English districts or other countries ; and the 
philosophical basis of educational theory is placed 



I 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 35 

■within his grasp by his university training. Thus he 
is in a position to inspire the mind of his district with 
the best educational ideas and to report to the cen- 
tral department, for the general benefit, the actual 
progress which is made by their application. This, 
we believe, is the real working of the system by which 
the 'code,' however imperfect it may be, has come 
to have a width and adaptability quite other than its 
characteristics twenty years ago. English elemen- 
tary education, it has been said, was a system devised 
by clerks for a nation of working men. But it has 
not remained altogether so ; and that it has not is due 
to the working of local minds in contributing and ap- 
propriating suggestions through the agencies which 
communicate with the center. . . . The English kin- 
dergarten department, for example, is not a copy of 
a Continental school ; it is the application of an idea 
to new experience." 

The interest in public instruction was never 
greater in England than at the beginning of the 
twentieth century. The people have come to know 
something of the value of the intelligence, good order, 
and morality which a system of public schools tends 
to promote. The trend of events is stirring the Eng- 
lish to make more strenuous efforts to promote a 
higher degree of intelligence among the common peo- 
ple. Great Britain has been of late losing ground in 
many of the markets of the world. Germans and 



36 ENGLAND AND WALES 

especially Americans are taking places in trade long 
lield by the English. By official inquiries widely ex- 
tended and carefully tabulated the English are becom- 
ing convinced that they are outdone in trade by those 
who have better trained, more inventive, and more in- 
telligent workmen ; that, if they are to hold their own 
in the present competitions of trade, they must make 
the public elementary schools more efficient and pro- 
vide a broader training and culture by a system of 
public secondary schools. The leaders in mechanical 
improvements in the United States and in Germany 
are usually the sons of workmen, practical because of 
their early training, and skilled by technical training, 
for which not only the elementary, but the secondary 
school prepared them. 

The productive energy of the common people of 
England must be better schooled if England would 
reap her share of the benefits of modern skill. A 
financial argument never fails to gain the apprecia- 
tion of an average English statesman. The elemen- 
tary schools of England are destined to improve, we 
may believe, more rapidly in the future than in the 
past. The system of secondary schools which sooner 
or later must supplement them must react upon them 
to secure better work and to provide better teachers. ^ 

In speaking of the " alarmist fears " of the early 
opponents of the elementary system, Mr. Holman 
says : " The fear that education would make more and 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 37 

cleverer rogues and rascals has been shown to be en- 
tirely groundless. On the contrary, it is admitted on 
all sides that crime has very largely decreased in con- 
sequence of the spread of knowledge. Of course the 
rogue has been made a cleverer rogue, but the number 
of criminals has grown less, and other people have 
been made more capable of guarding themselves 
against roguery." He adds that " the working 
classes have become more and more constitutional, 
and less and less violent and revolutionary, as they 
have become more educated." 

Speaking of the results of the elementary schools 
of the United Kingdom, Mr. F. H. S. Escott, in his 
Transformations of the Victorian Era, says : " A 
new generation has sprung up, which is demonstrably 
better educated and more humanized than any of 
its predecessors. The diminution of pauperism and 
crime, the gradual disappearance from London and 
from other great towns of the uncontrollably rough 
element among the street observers of public holidays, 
the competition among the industrial classes of mu- 
seums or picture-galleries with drinking-bars on Sun- 
days and on popular feasts — these are the more super- 
ficial signs of the progress already made and still going 
forward. Intelligent foreigners, the very men who 
are said to anticipate the judgments of posterity, de- 
clare that within the last twenty years the physiog- 
nomical type of the London street loungers and 



38 ENGLAND AND WALES 

loafers has visibly improved ; that the look of the vul- 
ture which was habitual on faces pinched by hunger 
and puffy or pallid with debauchery is no longer the 
dominating expression of features; that the rapacious 
arabs of the pavement who were formerly ready to 
devour the newcomer outside Victoria Cross or Vic- 
toria railway-stations, where they have not disap- 
peared, have become orderly, intelligent, and not al- 
together the reverse of polite. It requires perhaps an 
Englishman to appreciate at their true worth the more 
delicate gradations of this improvement elsewhere. 
. . . Schools, elementary, whether of the first or 
second grade, secondary, technical, or scientific, ex- 
plain much of this new improvement in the facial 
characteristics and at all public places in the general 
deportment of the humblest of her Majesty's sub- 
jects." 

A limited number of elementary schools receiving 
parliamentary grants are not under the control of the 
Education Department. A few elementary schools 
having an endowment of £100 or over are under the 
supervision of the Charity Commission. 

The Home Ofiice has general charge of the edu- 
cation of children in factories and mines, of the in- 
mates of prisons and reformatory and industrial 
schools. Some of the industrial schools are adopted 
by school boards as truant-schools. Of late, the 
policy of this office favors sending children to the 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 39 

public elementary schools so far as circumstances will 
allow. 

The schools under the direction of the Home 
Office are largely conducted in accordance with 
methods adopted by board schools, and there is an in- 
creasing disposition on the part of Parliament to place 
all elementary schools, as far as it is practicable, 
under the control of the Education Department. 

The local government board was created in 1871 
to take the place of the poor law board and to super- 
vise the public health and local government. This 
board has made progress in the elementary instruc- 
tion of children in workhouses by securing their ad- 
mission to the public schools when conveniently ac- 
cessible. 

Special provision under the department of " the 
Commander-in-Chief" is made for the education of 
soldiers and their children, and under the " Lords of 
the Admiralty" for the education of those in the 
navy. 

The evening continuation schools no less than 
day-schools furnish evidence of recent progress. 
Owing to the restriction of the teaching principally to 
elementary subjects and to persons not over eighteen 
by the Act of 1871, the number attending these schools 
was small. Though in 1876 the upper limit of age 
was raised to twenty-one, the attendance diminished 
rather than increased. In 1886 it was only 26,009. 



40 ENGLAND AND WALES 

In 1890 the restriction limiting the instruction to 
" principally elementary " subjects was removed. In 
1893 a special code was published by which pupils 
over twenty-one years of age were allowed to attend, 
and many secondary studies were allowed. As any 
one might now attend without being compelled to take 
elementary studies, the attendance rapidly increased. 
In 1894 the number attending was 358,268. In the 
report for the year ending 1900 the number is 474,- 
563. About three-fifths of these were boys or men 
and two-fifths girls or women. Of these about one- 
seventh were under fourteen, more than one-half be- 
tween fourteen and eighteen, about one-seventh be- 
tween eighteen and twenty-one, and about another 
seventh over twenty-one. These schools have done 
much to help those who are anxious to better fit them- 
selves for some industrial career and those also who 
are attempting to bridge the way from the elemen- 
tary school to some technical institution. In some 
cases these schools have been a direct aid to poor 
students aspiring to gain university degrees. 

By the Act of 1893 provision was made for the 
education of the deaf and the blind. Attendance is 
now made compulsory at schools provided for these 
up to the age of sixteen. Deaf children, however, are 
not required to attend until seven years of age. The 
number of schools reported in 1900 was 101, in which 
3,530 deaf children were registered and 1,795 blind. 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 41 

The Act of 1899 provides for the elementary in- 
iBtruction of defective and epileptic children. Ar- 
rangements are already made for the organization of 
schools for such children in different parts of the 
country. 

The Act of 1899, which went into operation April 
1, 1901, establishing the Board of Education, by 
which the Education Department, organized in 1856, 
is superseded, raises the expectation of a new era in 
the history of elementary education in England and 
.Wales. 

This board is charged with the superintendence of 
matters relating to education in England and Wales, 
and consists of a president and a lord president of the 
Privy Council (unless he is appointed president of the 
board), his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, 
the first commissioner of his Majesty's treasury, and 
the Chancellor of his Majesty's Exchequer. 

" The existing vice-president of the committee of 
the Privy Council on education shall also be a member 
of the board; but on the next vacancy in his office the 
office shall be abolished and the Education Depart- 
ment Act of 1856 shall be repealed." (In 1902 Sir 
John Gorst resigned and Sir William Anson was ap- 
pointed parliamentary secretary of the Board of Edu- 
cation.) 

The science and art department, which has hither- 
to been collaborative with the Education Department, 



42 ENGLAND AND WALES 

is hereafter to be a department under tlie direction of 
the Board of Education. The educational functions 
of the Charity Commission are also hereafter to be- 
long to the board. 

" It shall be lawful for his Majesty in Council, by 
order, to establish a consultative committee, consist- 
ing, as to not less than two-thirds, of persons repre- 
senting universities and bodies interested in educa- 
tion, for the purpose of 

'' (a) Framing, with the approval of the Board of 
Education, regulations for the formation of a register 
of teachers; and 

" ih) Advising the Board of Education on any 
matter referred to the committee by the board." 

This consultative committee is a new and impor- 
tant provision. The provision for inspection of 
secondary schools, in addition to the inspection of ele- 
mentary schools as heretofore, promises ultimately to 
unify elementary and secondary instruction. This 
provision will doubtless result in a system of free 
secondary schools the counterpart of the free elemen- 
tary schools and supplementary to the existing sec- 
ondary schools. The middle and upper classes have 
long been provided with secondary schools for their 
children. These schools are inaccessible to the chil- 
dren of the poor, save as a few of the more brilliant 
obtain scholarships while in advanced grades of the 
elementary schools. The germs of a system of free 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 43 

secondary schools already exist in these advanced 
grades fostered in some of the elementary schools of 
London and other large towns. Special buildings are 
now being provided in London and elsewhere for these 
grades, though the claim that they legally have stand- 
ing as a part of the elementary system is invalidated 
by the recent Cockerton judgment. 

One of the first acts of the board was the issuing 
of a minute which was approved by Parliament, en- 
abling the board to recognize a new class of public 
elementary schools termed higher elementary schools. 
Though some of the sciences are to be taught in these 
schools, and other subjects some of which belong to a 
secondary course of instruction, the schools will be 
greatly narrowed by the fact that students are not to 
be retained beyond the age of fifteen. This restric- 
tion has not before been imposed upon students in the 
advanced grades of the elementary schools. Perhaps 
the board think that this age limit will help the board 
to enroll these schools as part of the elementary sys- 
tem, and thus keep the field open for a distinctive 
system of secondary schools composed of students 
over fifteen years of age. 

The School Board of Leeds state in their report, 
approved ^N'ovember 19, 1900, that they " have not 
seen their way to apply for the recognition of any 
school as a higher elementary school," and consider 
that the minute of the Board of Education, owing to 



4:4: ENGLAND AND WALES 

age limit and other embarrassing restrictions, " must 
be amended to be of any educational value." 

In another connection the Leeds board, after 
speaking of the remarkable success of students who 
have availed themselves of the science school, one of 
the higher-grade schools of Leeds, say: " At the end 
of last session, May, 1900, there were in attendance 
303 pupils who were either fifteen years of age or 
would have been in the session, and who would not 
have been allowed to be in attendance. This session 
there are in attendance 441 pupils either over fifteen 
years of age or who will be over fifteen during the 
session, and these, if the minute were accepted by our 
school board, would cease to be recognized as pupils." 

The Central Higher-Grade School of Leeds, main- 
tained by the ratepayers of that city, has been essen- 
tially an excellent secondary school. While in its 
science department fitting students for leadership in 
the practical affairs of life, it also prepares them to 
pass the matriculation examinations of universities; 
students from this school have received their share 
of university honors. The Southern Higher-Grade 
School of Leeds, though smaller, has worked in the 
same lines as the Central. 

Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, London, and 
other important centers have, through the action of 
their school boards, evolved higher-grade schools 
which have already begun to link the elementary 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 45 

schools with the universities, while supplementing the 
work of the elementary schools with instruction in 
scientific and other studies preparatory to the practi- 
cal affairs of active life. 

Parliament will make a sad mistake if it in any 
way withdraws its encouragement to the development 
of secondary instruction by local effort. 

It is much to the credit of the English that with 
their interest so largely centered in the secondary in- 
struction of the public schools, as they are called, 
though on private foundations, such as Eton, Eugby, 
and others, they should take into serious considera- 
tion the great work of organizing and equipping free 
secondary schools that shall supplement the instruc- 
tion of the elementary schools and open a way for 
youth of all classes to reach the universities. 

In London and in other boroughs and towns where 
board schools are maintained the local rating authori- 
ties are able, by means of the rates levied in addition 
to parliamentary grants, to make more liberal pro- 
vision for board schools than can be made in most 
cases for voluntary schools which depend upon volun- 
tary subscriptions to supplement the parliamentary 
grants. Most of these voluntary schools are con- 
nected with Anglican churches. The payment of 
one's subscription to a denominational school is no ex- 
emption from the payment of one's rate for the main- 
tenance of a board school existing in the same com- 



46 ENGLAND AND WALES 

munity. The rate, a local tax, is collected by tlie 
civil authorities. The subscription is a free-will oft'er- 
ing in the interest of one's Church, with a view to the 
religious training of the young in the faith and doc- 
trine of that Church. The motive of the donor is 
most worthy. He believes that by maintaining the 
schools of his Church he so far promotes the highest 
welfare of the young and the well-being of the 
nation. 

The ratepayer who is also a contributor to a vol- 
untary school has an eye quick to detect any ex- 
travagant expenditure in the board school of his 
community, and is often ready to contrast with this 
expenditure the necessary frugal, if not penurious, 
administration of his Church school. 

In the parishes of the rural districts there is little 
necessity for the establishment of board schools. The 
voluntary or church schools are able to provide ac- 
commodations for all children of school age. The 
agricultural population over large areas has for many 
years been diminishing. The increasing facilities of 
transportation have brought distant grain-fields and 
other food sources nearer to England and rendered 
farming in the United Kingdom less profitable. 
Population is gathering in cities and in manufactur- 
ing centers. The rural districts are becoming more 
scantily populated and pupils in the elementary 
schools in country parishes are steadily becoming 



I 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 47 

fewer in number. The Cliurch schools in most rural 
districts are directly or indirectly cared for by clergy- 
men, who are generally acknowledged to be better 
school managers than the average rural voters. 

In sparsely populated parishes an elementary 
school cared for by an earnest clergyman is a better 
product, though a Church school, than a board school 
cared for by men who often regard education as one 
cause of the advanced price and scarcity of agricul- 
tural laborers. 

Those who till the fields seem very generally to 
believe that " book-learning '^ tends to alienate their 
children from the manual employments of their 
parents and to render them discontented with their 
homely ways. Landowners and those who hire farms, 
finding land less profitable than formerly, in part 
owing to the scarcity of suitable laborers, often agree 
with the parents that ignorance somehow fosters con- 
tent, and that board schools, in addition to the burden- 
some taxes which they impose, tend, in proportion to 
the facilities they offer, to denude the agricultural 
districts of laborers. Such landowners and such 
parents can not be expected to tax themselves largely 
to maintain public elementary schools. The edu- 
cated clergyman, who knows something of the sweet- 
ness and light of learning, and who makes the inter- 
ests of the families in his parish his own, may be ex- 
pected, though with limited resources, to maintain a 



48 ENGLAND AND WALES 

better school than the board school which his parish- 
ioners, with their penurious and narrow views, would 
maintain. 

Sir John Gorst has affirmed in the House of Com- 
mons that the board schools of London and other 
towns and boroughs, because of their liberal and in- 
telligent management and abundant resources, are 
evidently superior to the voluntary schools. He 
affirms with equal emphasis that in the rural districts 
the reverse is true: that there the Church schools, 
though far inferior to what they should be, are better 
than the rural board schools would be under the 
present conditions. 

The English peasant is proverbially behind the 
Scotch in his appreciation of an education. The 
Scotchman believes that every advance in useful 
knowledge and manly discipline renders any one so 
far more effective whatever may be his employment, 
and the enthusiasm and self-denial shown by parents 
in educating their sons have helped youth from all 
conditions of life to find their way to the universities, 
and through them to places of influence in all parts 
of the world. Education in England is traditionally 
the privilege of the upper classes. In Scotland it has 
been regarded an heritage rightfully belonging to all. 



CHAPTEE II 

THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 

We have seen that, when the Act of 1870 was 
under debate in the House of Commons previous to its 
passage, the " religious question " elicited intense and 
prolonged discussion. On the one side it was urged, 
as we have noted, that religious teaching in schools 
maintained at public expense should not present the 
peculiar dogmas of any denomination, but those 
truths that received the assent of all denominations. 
On the other side it was urged that the Established 
Church was the national Church; that its teachings 
had been authorized by the state; that it had long 
been the chief agency in providing elementary in- 
struction; that economy demanded that the schools 
already equipped should be continued; and that the 
moral welfare of the nation demanded that the schools 
of the Church should continue to teach religion as 
heretofore. We have seen that the prolonged debate 
resulted in a compromise unsatisfactory to each party, 
which was embodied in Sections 7 and 14 of the Edu- 
cation Act, and is now designated as the " conscience 
clause." Its main provisions are as follows: 

49 



50 ENGLAND AND WALES 

" It shall not be required, as a condition of any 
child being admitted into or continuing in the school, 
that he shall attend or abstain from attending any 
Sunday-school, or any place of religious worship, or 
that he shall attend any religious observance or any 
instruction in religious subjects in the school or else- 
where, from which observance or instruction he may 
be withdrawn by his parent, or that he shall, if with- 
drawn by his parent, attend the school on any day 
exclusively set apart for religious observance by the 
religious body to which his parent belongs. 

" The time or times during which any religious 
observance is practised, or instruction in religious sub- 
jects is given, at any meeting of the school shall be 
either at the beginning or at the end of such meeting, 
and shall be inserted in a time-table to be approved by 
the Education Department, and to be kept perma- 
nently and conspicuously affixed in every schoolroom ; 
and any scholar may be withdrawn by his parent from 
such observance or instruction without forfeiting any 
of the other benefits of the school. 

" The school shall be open at all times to the in- 
spection of any of her Majesty's inspectors, so, how- 
ever, that it shall be no part of the duties of such in- 
spectors to inquire into any instruction in religious 
subjects given at such school or to examine any 
scholar therein in religious knowledge or in any re- 
ligious subject or book. 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 51 

" ' Every school provided by a scliool board shall 
be conducted under the control and management of 
such board in accordance with the following regula- 
tions : 

" ' The school shall be a public elementary school 
within the meaning of this act. 

" ' No religious catechism or religious formulary 
which is distinctive of any particular denomination 
shall be taught in the school.' " 

The sentiments of earnest Churchmen were ex- 
pressed in the monthly paper of the ^N'ational Society 
for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the 
Principles of the Established Church in such state- 
ments as these : " All that is happening in the matter 
of education is a call to the Church to put out her 
strength and to do valiant battle for her principles in 
the schools." 

" Our work is to teach children the facts of our 
religion, the doctrines of our religion, the duties of 
our religion. We must teach them the facts of our 
religion that they may be intelligent Christians, not 
ignorant as heathens; the doctrines, that they may 
not be Christians only, but Churchmen; the duties, 
that they may not be Churchmen only, but communi- 
cants. This last, in fact, is the object at which we 
are uniformly to aim, the training of the young Chris- 
tian for full communion with the Church; and as pre- 
liminary to that, a training for confirmation. The 



52 ENGLAND AND WALES 

whole school-time of a child should gradually lead up 
to this.'' 

" The time has come when probably the whole 
fate of the Church of England, humanly speaking, 
will turn upon the hold she may have upon the rising 
generation. Political changes are giving more and 
more power to the people. If the Church has the 
people with her, she will be beyond all danger from 
adverse legislation. Let her, then, educate the chil- 
dren of the people in her principles." 

Many of those who opposed the establishment of 
board schools, and who gave of their time, their 
money, and their influence to aid the Anglican Church 
in maintaining elementary schools, did so because 
they feared that if the Church schools gave place to 
board schools, under popular control, the schools 
would become not only non-sectarian, but irreligious. 
This fear has greatly strengthened the Church party. 

Those who believe that the teaching of the pecul- 
iar dogmas of the Anglican Church is essential to 
any true religious teaching, to-day believe that board 
schools are non-religious and tend to eliminate re- 
ligion from the communities in which they exist. 

However groundless the fear of the Churchman, 
and however fallacious his argument for the main- 
tenance of the teaching of the peculiar doctrines of 
the Anglican Church, the fact remains that his in- 
sistence upon the teaching of religion in elementary 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION • 53 

schools has had a tremendous influence upon the board 
schools. It has helped to make the managers of these 
schools earnest in securing excellent teaching of Scrip- 
ture lessons and the faithful memorizing of selections 
from the Scriptures. 

The board schools do not intend to be behind the 
voluntary or Church schools in Bible teaching nor 
inculcating practical lessons in morality. In London 
more than twice as many pupils are in board schools 
as in voluntary schools, and the Bible instruction in 
the schools of this city may serve as a sample of what 
is generally given in board schools elsewhere. The 
code of the London board schools requires that " the 
Bible shall be read and then shall be given such in- 
structions therefrom in the principles of the Christian 
religion and of morality as are suited to the capacity 
of the children." Each head teacher of an infant 
school prepares a syllabus of moral instruction for her 
school subject to the approval of the board inspector. 
The syllabus of Bible instruction for grades above 
the infant school in the board schools of London for 
the year 189 Y, much the same as in more recent regu- 
lations, is as follows: 

STANDARD I 
Pupils seven to eight years of age 
Learn the Lord's Prayer, and Psalm xxiii. A 
few simple stories from the book of Genesis. Sim- 
ple lessons from the boyhood and youth of Samuel 



54: ENGLAND AND WALES 

and David. Leading facts in the life of our Lord 
told in simple language. 

STANDARD II 
Eight to nine years of age 

Kepeat the Lord's Prayer, and Psalm xxiii. 
Learn the Ten Commandments. Learn St. Matthew 
V, verses 1-12, and St. Matthew xxii, verses 35-40. 
Simple stories from the books of the Pentateuch. 
Simple outline of the facts in the life of our Lord 
told in simple language. 

STANDARD III 

Eepeat the Lord's Prayer; Psalm xxiii; the Ten 
Commandments; St. Matthew v, verses 1-12; and 
St. Matthew xxii, verses 35-40. 

Learn Deuteronomy xxvii, verses 1-14. 

Lessons from the books of Joshua, Judges, Kuth, 
Samuel, and Kings. 

Fuller outline of the life of our Lord, with lessons 

drawn from the following parables : The Sower. The 

Lost Sheep. The Laborers in the Vineyard. The 

Talents. The Good Samaritan. The Lost Piece of 

Money. The Prodigal Son. The Pharisee and the 

Publican. 

STANDARD IV 

Pepeat the Lord's Prayer; Psalm xxiii; the Ten 
Commandments; St. Matthew xxii, verses 35-40. 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 65 

Learn St. John xiv, verses 8-21, or First Epistle 
of John iii, verses 11-20. Lessons from the Penta- 
teuch, with special reference to the lives of Abraham, 
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, with the practical 
lessons to be derived therefrom, together with the 
teaching of the law of Moses with reference to the 
" Poor," " Stranger,'^ " Fatherless," " Widow," 
" Parents," and " Children." Lessons from the 
Gospel according to St. Luke. 

STANDARD V 

Kepeat the Lord's Prayer; Psalm xxiii; the Ten 
Commandments; St. Matthew v, verses 1-12; St. 
Matthew xxii, verses 35-40. 

Learn Ephesians vi, verses 1-18, or 1 Corinthians 
xii, verse 31, and chapter xiii, and also any two of 
the following Psalms, cxliv-cl; and the following 
proverbs to illustrate the duty of (a) Truthfulness; 
Proverbs xii, verses 17, 18, 19, and 22; xiv, verse 
25; xix, verse 22; xxvi, verse 28; xxviii, verse 13; (h) 
Temperance: Proverbs xxiii, verses 20 and 21. 

Lessons from the books of Samuel and Kings. 

Lessons from the Gospel according to St. Mark. 

STANDARD VI 

Eepeat the Lord's Prayer; Psalm xxiii; the Ten 
Commandments; St. Matthew v, verses 1-12; St. 
Matthew xxii, verses 35-40; and the following 



56 ENGLAND AND WALES 

Proverbs to illustrate the duty of (a) Truthfulness: 
Proverbs xii, verses 17, 18, 19, 22; xiv, verse 25; xix, 
verse 22; xxvi, verse 28; and xxviii, verse 13; (b) 
Temperance: Proverbs xxiii, verses 20 and 21. 

Lessons from Isaiah, chapters liii-lv, and Psalms 
xc-cvi. 

Lessons from the Gospel according to St. 
Matthew. 

STANDARD VII 

Repeat the Lord's Prayer; Psalm xxiii; the Ten 
Commandments; St. Matthew v, verses 1-12; St. 
Matthew xxii, verses 35-40. 

Learn Isaiah Iv; any two of the following Psalms 
(other than the two learned in Standard Y), cxliv-cl; 
and Ephesians iv, verses 1-19. 

Lessons from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 
xxxii-xlvi. 

Lessons from the Gospel according to St. John. 

Book of the Acts of the Apostles i-viii, and 
xiii-xv. 

EX-STANDARD VII 

Study of Isaiah liii-lxvi; and the Gospel accord- 
ing to St. Mark. 

SYLLABUS FOR CANDIDATES AND PUPIL-TEACHERS 

The course at the pupil-teachers' schools should 
afford a general acquaintance with the Old and New 
Testaments, with especial reference to those portions 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 57 

■which are included in the syllabus of instruction for 
children. 

This course should include not merely a general 
outline of the history and literature of the different 
periods referred to in the Bible, but also special at- 
tention should be given to the teaching contained 
therein. 

FOR CANDIDATES AND PUPIL-TEACHERS 
Lessons from Jeremiah xxxii-xlvi. 
Lessons from the Gospel acording to St. John. 

FIRST-YEAR PUPIL-TEACHERS 
Study of Isaiah liii-lxvi and the Gospel accord- 
ing to St. Mark. 

SECOND-YEAR PUPIL-TEACHERS 
Study of Deuteronomy and the Gospel according 
to St. Luke. 

THIRD- YEAR PUPIL-TEACHERS 
Study of the First Book of Samuel, the Gospel 
according to St. John, the Acts of the Apostles i-xiv. 

FOURTH-YEAR PUPIL-TEACHERS 
Study of Genesis, the Gospel according to St. 
Matthew, and the Acts of the Apostles xv-xxviii. 

A very few school boards in England and Wales 
do not provide for religious instruction; most of these 



58 ENGLAND AND WALES 

are in Wales, in localities maintaining a very efficient 
system of Sunday-schools, in which parents prefer to 
have the Scripture lessons given. The Sunday-school 
system has been said to be most complete in Wales 
and least complete in London, though this city is well 
supplied. 

One thoroughly acquainted with the social and re- 
ligious conditions of Wales writes: ^' On the whole, 
the Welsh are a more religious people than the Eng- 
lish, but the Church of Wales is not the church of the 
majority, and non-conformist Wales consequently 
voted against religious instruction in board schools. 
The Sunday-schools of Wales are unique, as they in- 
clude adult Sunday-schools.'^ 

In the board schools of London working lists of 
Scripture lessons based upon the syllabus of instruc- 
tion are drawn up at the beginning of the year and 
submitted to the board inspector when he visits a 
school. Teachers are instructed to make the lessons 
as practical as possible, and not to give attention to 
unnecessary details. The pupils are regularly ex- 
amined in their Scripture lessons as in other lessons. 
By referring to the syllabus it will be seen that the 
Scripture lessons provide for ample reviews, so that a 
pupil can easily retain what he has learned in lower 
grades or standards. Interest is also stimulated and 
thoroughness is promoted by prizes awarded by the 
Eeligious Tract Society and by private individuals. 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 59 

The extent of the Bible instruction in board 
schools is evident from the admission of the Guardian, 
a publication in the interests of the English Church. 
In the issue of September 25, 1895, occur these state- 
ments of the Bishop of Carlisle: " We who are most 
strong for the maintenance of our denominational 
schools must, after the recent publication of the Blue 
Book on religious teaching in board schools, thought- 
fully recognize that the term ^ godless ' is one which 
can not be justly applied to the board-school system 
while of 2,390 school boards, there are only 9 in Eng- 
land and 48 in Wales which make no provision for 
religious teaching." Similar statements as to the ex- 
tent, and statements showing the excellence, of the re- 
ligious or Bible instruction may be gathered from the 
utterances of Dr. Temple, late Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, and others holding high positions in the Church. 
Sir John Gorst, when vice-president of the Education 
Council not long ago, said in the House of Commons: 
" I am not certain, if it came to a real test, that you 
would not find that the facts and history of the Chris- 
tian faith are better taught to children in the board 
schools " (than in the voluntary schools). Later, be- 
fore the House of Commons, in June, 1898, Sir John 
Gorst said : " It is a common practise in a large 
number of Church schools to give Bible teaching on 
the first four days of the week and the teaching of the 
catechism on Friday. When I was speaking in the 



60 ENGLAND AND WALES 

house some little time ago, I expressed doubts whetlier 
the teaching of historical facts was not given better in 
board schools than in voluntary schools. I entertain 
that doubt no longer. In London, at any rate, I have 
no hesitation in saying that the teaching in board 
schools is so superior to the teaching in voluntary 
schools that there is no comparison between them. 
In voluntary schools it is given in open school, in 
board schools in separate class rooms. In the volun- 
tary schools it is given by untrained, uncertificated 
teachers, in the board schools it is given by trained 
and certificated teachers. The pupil-teachers are 
there, but they listen." 

These statements were sharply challenged, but not 
disproved, by articles written by Churchmen and pub- 
lished in some of the leading papers of the metropolis. 
It is easy to believe that the statements of Sir John 
Gorst are correct when one reflects that at least one- 
fifth of the time set apart for instruction in morals 
and religion is devoted in the Church schools to in- 
struction in the catechism and other formulae of the 
Anglican Church, with especial emphasis upon the 
distinctive dogmas of the Church, while in board 
schools all the time set apart for such instruction is 
devoted to Scripture lessons and lessons in practical 
morality. 

As to the value of these lessons, Mr. H. H. As- 
quith, M. P., speaking not long ago in the Queen's 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 61 

Hall, said : " I believe that there are thousands and 
tens of thousands of Churchmen who regard religious 
instruction given in the board schools as most valu- 
able for the purposes for which it is intended, and who 
do not think that its value is neutralized or its utility 
disproved because the minds of little children are not 
under it compelled to travel outside the simple facts 
and the elementary principles which are common to 
all forms of Christian faith." 

Sir Joshua Fitch, than whom, because of his broad 
views, genuine enthusiasm, and distinguished services 
as teacher, educational writer, and H. M. Inspector, 
no man is better able to judge, says that " a suc- 
cessful effort is made in the board schools to bring 
up the children in the fear of God, with a reverence 
for his "Word, a considerable knowledge of the history 
and poetry of the Bible and its plainer moral lessons, 
and especially of the life and teaching of our Lord; 
but that it is no part of the duty of the teacher to 
give instruction in controversial theology or to permit 
the school to serve as a propaganda for the tenets of 
any particular religious denomination. 'No one who 
knows the schools can well doubt that under these 
limitations religious and moral teaching of a very 
precious kind is imparted in the schools, and that the 
influence of this instruction on the conduct and char- 
acter of the children, and on the religious life of the 
nation, has been profoundly felt." Speaking of the 



62 ENGLAND AND WALES 

adaptation of this teaching to the moral judgments 
of parents of different faiths, Sir Joshua adds : '^ It 
has, in fact, so far proved acceptable to the parents 
that out of about 500,000 scholars in the London 
board schools, the claim for exemption from religious 
lessons, which under the name of the ^ conscience 
clause ' is the statutory right of every parent, has 
only been made in the case of about 400 chil- 
dren, chiefly those of Jewish and Eoman Catholic 
parentage.'' 

Most of the training-colleges were founded under 
the auspices of the Anglican Church. Those who 
have completed the course in training-colleges are at- 
tracted to the board schools in London and in other 
large towns by the demand for specially trained 
teachers for these schools and the larger salaries paid. 
Hence much of the excellence of Scripture teaching 
in board schools must in justice be accredited to the 
instruction which teachers of board schools have re- 
ceived in Anglican training-colleges. The emphasis 
placed upon religious teaching in these colleges seems 
to produce an abiding impression upon students, 
though the distinctive dogmas of the Anglican Church 
may be disregarded in their subsequent teaching. 

The British and Foreign School Society has been 
very effective in establishing schools and in aiding 
schools, so far as its means would allow, in which un- 
sectarian religion based upon the Bible has been sys- 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 63 

tematically taught. The present religious teaching 
of the board schools is in direct descent from the Lan- 
casterian schools. The success of these schools 
proved to a large proportion of the people of England 
that the Scriptures and those fundamental truths 
which all believers accept may be efficiently taught in 
schools free from the interference of the clergy and 
free from the peculiar dogmas of any sect. 

Soon after the founding of the British and For- 
eign School Society the jealous opposition of extreme 
Churchmen was aroused. They urged all Church- 
men to withdraw from the support of undenomina- 
tional schools. They considered any school instruc- 
tion dangerous that failed to inculcate the dogmas and 
doctrines of the Church, or that failed to habituate 
the children to its ceremonial. The dignitaries of the 
Church and very many of their followers withdrew 
from the movement so earnestly urged by Lancaster 
and others in favor of establishing unsectarian schools 
for all children, especially the children of the poor. 
The !N'ational Society for Promoting the Education of 
the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church 
was founded. This and the British and Foreign 
School Society have long held the leadership of the 
great divisions of the people of England, who, while 
working alike for the elementary instruction of chil- 
dren, have differed sharply in their views respecting 
religious instruction in schools. 



64 ENGLAND AND WALES 

For sixty years the friends of a state system of 
education were hindered by the inability of the com- 
mon people to initiate and sustain an educational 
movement, by the apathy of the upper classes, and by 
the attitude of the Anglican clergy, from establish- 
ing a system of public elementary schools, and, as we 
have seen, when in 1870, after a heated contest, it was 
established, the old order of things was undisturbed 
in the schools of the Church save as they were made 
quasi-public. The board schools constituted a system 
supplementary to the Church schools instead of a sys- 
tem national in extent and universal in curriculum. 
IN'either of the parties now show any sign of yielding; 
in Parliament and elsewhere each often conscien- 
tiously strives with the other for some advantage, 
giving rise to the statements often made by those en- 
gaged in school work, " We are two peoples in one 
nation." 

In 1839, we have seen, an attempt was made by 
the friends of popular education to establish a state 
normal school; but the scheme failed even after the ^ 
requisite funds were secured, owing mainly to the op- .| 
position of Churchmen. The result was that instead 
of an undenominational state normal school, the ap- 
propriation was divided for disbursement between the 
IN'ational and the British and Foreign School Soci- 
eties, and was used to establish one denominational ' 
and one undenominational training-college. The 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 65 

I^ational Society is the agent of the Established or 
Anglican Church; the British and Foreign School 
Society is undenominational, but insists on moral 
and biblical instruction. In the years following 
1839 several residential training-colleges were es- 
tablished. 

The Established Church during this period deeply 
felt the necessity of educating the children of the 
poor, and put forth no little effort in establishing col- 
leges for the training of elementary teachers. The 
supporters of the Established Church were superior 
to the non-conformists in influence, in wealth, and in 
education. They had a higher appreciation of edu- 
cation and were willing to make larger investments in 
schools and colleges. That they have so largely modi- 
fied the development of the elementary education of 
England is in no small degree owing to the fact that 
they first apprehended the economical and the moral 
value of elementary instruction when joined with 
religious training. During many decades previous to 
1870, when the Parliament awoke to its duty to the 
children of the realm, the supporters of the Estab- 
lished Church, with no little personal sacrifice, were 
the main supporters of elementary schools. They 
founded most of the training-colleges for teachers in 
England and Wales. 

The whole number of training-colleges reported in 
the Blue Book for the school year 1900 is 61. This 



C6 ENGLAND AND WALES 

number included the 16 day colleges established at 
university colleges in England and Wales, and 45 resi- 
dential colleges. The large majority (about two- 
thirds) of the residential training-colleges are, in their 
religious instruction, under the control of the Angli- 
can clergy. In a circular issued from the press of the 
iN'ational Society, it is stated that " two-thirds of the 
entire number of trained teachers in the country '' 
have received their professional education in these 
schools. 

Since 1871 the universities have been open to 
students of all denominations without religious tests 
or hindrances. The large majority of the residential 
training-colleges of England are for the most part yet 
practically closed to those who are not, at least out- 
wardly, in accord with the ceremonial and formulae of 
the Church, though these colleges are now mainly sup- 
ported by parliamentary grants. Those who desire 
to see a real national system of schools in England 
can never be reconciled to this state of things. The 
six residential training-colleges of the British and For- 
eign School Society are among the best in England 
and Wales, but they, together with the day colleges, 
which are unsectarian, are quite inadequate to ac- 
commodate the large number of candidates who, 
having fulfilled the requirements for admission, de- 
sire to enter a training-college and there prepare 
for teaching, but who are not in sympathy with 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 67 

the dogmas and the ceremonial of the Anglican 
Church. 

We give outlines of the special examination of 
candidates for admission to the Anglican training- 
colleges so far as pertains to religion, and also a syl- 
labus of religious teaching during the two years of the 
training course. 

For admission Octoher 29, 1898 

O. T. : Moses and Joshua. 

]^. T. : Transfiguration to beginning of Holy 
Week. 

Catechism: Text of the whole, with explanations. 

Prayer-Book: The offices for Public Baptism of 
Infants and Confirmation; Church History; Council 
of Mcsea and St. Athanasius. 

SYLLABUS FOR 1899 
First-year students 

O. T. : Moses and Joshua. 

!N". T. : Transfiguration to beginning of Holy 
Week. 

Prayer-Book: Order for morning and evening 
prayer (including the Ember Prayers, the Prayer for 
all Conditions of Men, and the General Thanksgiving, 
but not including the Athanasian Creed, the Psalter, 
or Lectionary); the Litany; the Catechism to the end 
of the Lord's Prayer. 



68 ENGLAND AND WALES 

Second-year students 

'N. T. : Acts of the Apostles; the Epistle to the 
Colossians; Prayer-Book; the Nicene Creed, consid- 
ered historically and dogmatically. 

The Offices for Public Baptism of Infants. 

The Catechism (Sacraments). 

The Order of Confirmation. 

The Order of the Holy Communion. 

"While visiting one of the London board schools, 
the writer asked a young man in charge of one of the 
rooms whether he was graduated at a training-college. 
He replied that he was graduated at one in York be- 
cause that college of the Church was near his home. 
He added that though he was a Churchman, he should 
prefer to study at an undenominational college, for 
the reason that too large a portion of a student's time 
in a Church college was spent in the study of relig- 
ious topics — more time than was spent on any other 
subject. The undenominational training courses re- 
cently established in certain university colleges, and 
known as day colleges, furnish but a small propor- 
tion of the supply of trained teachers, though many of 
these colleges are doing very excellent work, and the 
attendance is destined, in the near future_, to be largely 
increased. 

We have seen that under the Act of 1870 the 
ratepayers in a school area must provide buildings 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 69 

and maintain, by the aid of parliamentary grants, 
buildings and instruction for all children of school 
age who are not provided for in voluntary schools. 
Often, especially in the rural districts, the clergy plan 
to prevent the rise of any board schools by showing 
the ratepayers that it will be more economical to pro- 
vide additional accommodations by subscribing for the 
enlargement of the Church school than by establish- 
ing a board school. The average expense of maintain- 
ing a voluntary school is also shown to be in most cases 
less than the expense of maintaining a board school. 
An additional argument is pressed upon the con- 
sciences of those who believe that the peculiar dogmas 
and formulse of the Established Church are a neces- 
sary part of religion. In this way a Church school 
often holds its ground and maintains a degree of effi- 
ciency sufficient to secure its portion of the parlia- 
mentary grants, while the penurious ratepayers, by 
their scanty dole, are excused from making additional 
provision for the education of children. Mr. Lloyd 
George, M. P., of Carnarvon, said April 19, 1898, in 
the House of Commons : " In the Penrhyn quarry dis- 
trict the Church schools are substantially maintained 
by the owner of those quarries. He pays £400 to 
help maintain the Church schools, and this saves pay- 
ing £2,100 which he would pay if a board school was 
maintained at the same rate as in the adjoining quarry 
districts. But the schools of the latter are infinitely 



TO ENGLAND AND WALES 

better. But it is claimed that the voluntary schools, 
if inferior in secular education, are superior in 
moral instruction. Birmingham is a board-school 
district. Liverpool is a city of rampant denomina- 
tionalism in schools and in everything else. The 
criminal statistics of Liverpool are three times as 
high as those of Birmingham. London is far more of 
a board-school district than Liverpool. The criminal 
statistics are three times as high in Liverpool as in 
London. The same results will be shown to be appli- 
cable all over the country." The social conditions in 
Liverpool diminish the force of this comparison. 

The non-conformists in many rural sections affirm 
that during the late years clerical influence in schools 
has greatly increased. Mr. A. J. Mundella, secre- 
tary of the National Educational Association, says in 
his annual report presented at a meeting February 14, 
1899: 

" There has been during recent years a distinct- 
ly retrograde movement in regard to the unsecta- 
rian character of the teaching of the public schools. 
There are now on many school boards members who 
are there as open foes of undenominational educa- 
tion, and whose main endeavor is to force the doctrine 
of one communion upon the children and teachers 
of different denominations. The clergyman of the 
parish is the ex-officio irremovable manager of the na- 
tional — i. e.. Church — school. Fifty years ago the 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 71 

G overnment of the day secured to the subscribers to a 
national — i. e., an Anglican — school the right to elect 
managers from the laity, but latterly the gradual dis- 
appearance of subscriptions is leading to the disap- 
pearance of that constituency of independent lay sub- 
scribers, and in many parishes the clergyman is again 
in safe control. This fading away of the lay element 
has been accompanied by the creation of diocesan and 
other associations, clerical inspectors, and organizers ; 
all of these have brought into existence new forces, 
which are mainly directed toward making the schools 
more definitely sectarian. . . . 

" The clergy, if elected to serve on school boards, 
might be, and often are, valuable managers of the 
schools, but a clergyman in despotic control of the 
village schools, independent of the public opinion of 
his own parish, whether non-conformist or Anglican, 
is an unsuitable manager of the only school of the dis- 
trict which is supported by public funds, and which all 
denominations are compelled to use." 

It was much to the interest of the Anglican 
Church that the parish was made the unit of school 
area in 1870. That this Church should be allowed 
under the Act of 1897 to make the federations of 
voluntary schools coincide with dioceses is clearly 
an additional means of making denominational con- 
trol more effective. 

The Rev. J. Guiness Rogers, in one of his Bicen- 



T2 ENGLAND AND WALES 

tenarj Lectures delivered in London and commemo- 
rative of the revolution of 1688, says: 

" The Anglican clergy would fain have the world 
believe that from the first they have been the true 
and disinterested friends of education. It would be 
much more true to say that as a body (noble excep- 
tions there have always been) they have been opposed 
to education over which they themselves could not 
exercise control, that they have regarded with ill-con- 
cealed aversion all attempts conceived in a broader 
and more liberal spirit, and that their constant effort 
has been to make the school a channel through which 
their sacerdotal and sacramental ideas may be poured 
into the minds of the young. In their view, as ex- 
pressed more or less distinctly to-day, an education 
that is not shaped more or less by the priest, is a 
godless education. ... 

" This attitude of the Church party and its sympa- 
thizers — it would not be unjust to describe it as the 
priest party — has been, and still is, the one obstacle 
to a national system of education. There are other 
differences of opinion, but these might have been 
settled had there not been their constant attempt to 
turn national institutions into sectarian preserves." 

Mr. Eichard Waddington, head master in St. 
James's School, Bolton, England, and president 
of the ^N'ational Union Teachers' Association during 
the years 1898 and 1899, said in his annual ad- 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 73 

dress : " As a Churclimaii and master of a Church, 
school, I recognize that the unfortunate and un- 
necessary introduction of dogma and doctrine has 
made progress in primary education difficult of ac- 
complishment." 

The writer not long ago attended morning services 
in St. PauFs Cathedral, London, and listened to a ser- 
mon prepared in the interest of the !N^ational Society, 
from Matthew xviii, 6 : " But whoso shall offend 
one of these little ones which believe in me, it 
were better for him that a millstone were hanged 
about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth 
of the sea." In his introduction the dean showed 
that Jesus appreciated the excellent qualities of little 
children and would have adults make these their own 
by their own rational action and choice. He then 
urged that in order to form a proper character chil- 
dren must have religious instruction. To have such 
instruction, they must be taught the truths main- 
tained by the Church. The I^ational Society was 
formed for the purpose of teaching children religion 
— i. e., the principles of the Established Church. 
Hence, let all those who would have children become 
what they should be in religion and morality con- 
tribute to the I^ational Society. The inference was 
plain, whether stated in so many words or not, that 
those who would not so aid the Church by their con- 
tributions would "offend these little ones," and that it 



74 ENGLAND AND WALES 

were better for them ^Hhat a millstone were hanged 
about their necks." In the course of the sermon the 
reverend dean found abundant opportunity to dwell 
upon the inefficiency of the board schools, character- 
izing them as ^' godless schools " teaching a " colorless 
religion." Whether the dean was eloquent in his de- 
nunciations of board schools from any actual knowl- 
edge of the lessons in morality and in the Scriptures 
that are there given, or based his statements on what 
he imagined, is a question. A lady who is a member 
of the Established Church, and who at the head of a 
large board school for several years has been success- 
ful in her Scripture and moral teaching, told me that 
she had been sorely tried by some clerical gentlemen 
in her district, who continued to make statements that 
were false respecting the teaching of morality and re- 
ligion in the board schools, without acquainting them- 
selves with the facts by visiting the schools and listen- 
ing to the lessons given. 

The Anglican clergy have always urged that 
Scripture lessons are of little value unless joined 
with lessons in the distinctive doctrines of the Church. 
To non-conformists this view is repugnant and irra- 
tional, and incompatible with a proper system of 
public schools. They can not see why the religion of 
Christ and of the ^ew Testament should not suffice 
for elementary schools. A Churchman would reply 
that the formularies of the Church embody in brief 



THE llELIGIOUS QUESTION 75 

and usable form the great truths of the religion of 
Christ and of the New Testament. 

After all that the non-conformists can urge 
against the teaching of sectarian dogmas in elemen- 
tary schools, the fact remains that to the Anglican 
Church England is directly or indirectly indebted for 
the systematic and earnest teaching of Scripture les- 
sons in her elementary schools. The literary, moral, 
and religious value of these lessons can hardly be over- 
estimated. 

The tendency of population in England, as in 
the United States, to gather in cities and towns 
brings together people of different nationalities and 
faiths. In these centers the number of school-chil- 
dren is constantly overflowing the accommodations. 
The Church can not provide the needed buildings, 
even if all the parents were willing to send their chil- 
dren to the Church schools. Having the resources of 
ratepayers on which to levy, school boards can estab- 
lish schools as fast as they are needed; hence the 
rate of increase of board schools is much beyond that 
of voluntary schools. The tendency in England 
seems to be to appropriate larger and larger sums from 
the national treasury, thus relieving the local rate- 
payers and the subscribers to the voluntary schools. 
As might be expected, subscriptions for voluntary 
schools have relatively diminished as state appropria- 
tions have increased. 



7G ENGLAND AND WALES 

The larger share of the money used for instruction 
in the voluntary schools now comes from the national 
treasury. As early as 1894 there were more than a 
thousand voluntary schools which were carried on 
without any subscription. The later bountiful grants 
of Parliament must have largely increased this num- 
ber. Sir Joshua Fitch says in an article in the Edu- 
cational Record, February, 1899 : " It is not to be be- 
lieved that Parliament will long sanction an arrange- 
ment of this kind which permits schools to be sup- 
ported entirely by public funds and yet leaves them 
entirely to private management, and without any con- 
trol by the inhabitants or other representatives of the 
public." 

Since those in favor of the Church schools can not 
occupy the ground with their schools nor prevent the 
steady increase of board schools, they have attempted 
from time to time to " capture the board schools." 
For an account of these attempts which have at times 
involved clerical gentlemen in doubtful politics while 
endeavoring to secure the election of " their men " on 
school boards I will quote again from the article of 
Sir Joshua Fitch, whose long experience as one of the 
chief inspectors and in other official relations qualify 
him to speak with authority : " A society calling 
itself the Religious Education Society, apparently on 
the supposition that no religious education is possible 
for young children unless it is essentially sectarian, 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 77 

has been formed, mth the approval of several of the 
bishops and with the avowed object of obtaining 
leave for the ministers of religion and other teachers 
especially accredited by the several churches, to give 
definite dogmatic instruction, according to their re- 
spective creeds, in the board schools. . . . There 
is not the smallest evidence that the parents of the 
children in the board schools or in the schools of the 
British and Foreign School Society either demand 
distinctive sectarian teaching or would welcome it 
if it were offered. ^Neither does the proposal emanate 
from the Protestant dissenters. They are content 
with the Scriptural teaching of the day-school and 
with the opportunities of adding whatever denomina- 
tional instruction they deem necessary in their Sun- 
day-schools or in religious services. !Nor have the 
Koman Catholic or the Wesley an Churches asked for 
admission of their own ministers into the board 
schools. The only advocates of the proposal are 
those who profess to speak in the name of the Estab- 
lished Church, and who seek to make use of the rate- 
aided schools as instruments for extending the relig- 
ious influence of that Church, since the direct agency 
of the voluntary system has effected so little toward 
the attainment of that result. And it is to be borne 
in mind that the various organizations which have 
identified themselves with this movement — the Eng- 
lish Church Union, the Keligious Education Union, 



Y8 ENGLAND AND WALES 

and the meeting of Diocesan Conferences — are com- 
posed almost entirely of persons who do not nse the 
public elementary schools for their own children, and 
who have not evinced any anxiety to secure definite 
Church teaching in grammar schools, public schools, 
or other places of secondary or higher education. In 
fact, as it has often been pointed out before, the policy 
now recommended represents an attempt on the 
part of the richer classes to enforce on the acceptance 
of other people's children dogmas and formularies 
which they do not ask for, and probably would not 
tolerate if enforced on their own. . . . But as to 
all attempts to impress a sectarian character upon our 
municipal and rate-aided schools, or to recognize in 
those schools denominational differences in the teach- 
ing, or in the classification of children and their teach- 
ers, it may be hoped that the resolve of the best 
friends of education in England will be decisive and 
unmistakable." 

It is evident that the more the state contributes to 
the support of the voluntary schools the stronger the 
assurance that these schools are destined to come 
under the control of the central authority or repre- 
sentatives of the local community. 

A strong argument for the prevalence of board 
schools in all parts of the realm is that they are more 
efficient than voluntary schools. They can have the 
money needed ; they are not limited to parliamentary 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 79 

grants and uncertain subscriptions. School boards 
assess the tax or rate requisite for the maintenance 
of the school. Again, the more earnest and ambi- 
tious teachers, unless deeply imbued with " the dog- 
matic sentiments," always seek to avail themselves 
of the more progressive methods and larger pay of 
the board schools. 

Another reason why the aggressive measures of 
the Anglican clergy will ultimately come to naught 
is that there is a growing lack of unity in the Church. 
In many places an excessive ritualism, unauthorized 
by the standards of the Church — a medieval Eoman 
ritual — is being developed. This ritualism excites 
the aversion of moderate Churchmen, and the disgust, 
the contempt, and sometimes the pious horror of the 
dissenter. The introduction of the teaching of the 
dogmas and formularies of the Anglican Church into 
the board schools the moderate Churchman sees may 
lead to ritualistic teaching which he can not approve, 
while the dissenter often regards this " attempt to cap- 
ture the board schools " as ultimately an attempt to 
Romanize the schools. The Protestant sentiment is 
very strong in England for the most part. It is 
said to be stronger in the House of Lords even than 
in the House of Commons. The more democratic 
house we should expect to be the more tolerant; 
but this house has shown, by its recent action, with 
great unanimity, that the people of England do 



80 ENGLAND AND WALES 

not propose to allow the Established Churcli to be 
Romanized. 

In justice to the Anglican Church it should be 
said that its teaching of the Bible, making it the foun- 
dation of religious faith and the bulwark of civil 
liberty, has habituated the English mind to regard in- 
struction in the English Bible as essential to the well- 
being of the individual and the nation. Nothing can 
obscure this achievement of the Anglican Church. 
Though the Board of Education takes no cognizance 
of religious instruction, such is the prevailing senti- 
ment that managers of board schools generally are 
thoroughly in earnest to have the Scripture lessons 
as well, if not better, taught than any other branch. 
We have seen that we have good reason to be- 
lieve that they succeed in this even better than the 
Church schools; the emphasis that is put upon dog- 
matic teaching in the Church schools may in part 
account for this. 

But whether in the board or in the voluntary 
schools, no one can question the great benefit of Bible 
study as now pursued. The daily conning of Scrip- 
ture lessons in practically all the elementary schools 
of Great Britain results in an abiding knowledge of 
an outline of the Bible and of Scripture characters, 
especially of Christ. The moral lessons joined with 
the biographical study of the Bible must also for the 
most part remain, as this teaching is often very 



I 



THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 81 

earnest and thorough. It is well for the children of 
the English people that thej thus lay hold of the 
English Bible. Leaving out of account the religious 
value of this instruction, we can hardly overestimate 
the literary value of reading and rereading, memori- 
zing and repeating, selections from the Bible. 

Mr. Matthew Arnold, for many years one of her 
Majesty's inspectors, was very earnest in his support 
of the curriculum of Bible study pursued in the board 
schools. In one of his reports to the Committee of 
Council on Education he said: " This could raise no 
jealousies, or if it still raise some, let a sacrifice be 
made of them for the sake of the end in view. Some 
will say that what we propose is but a small use to put 
the Bible to, yet it is that on which all higher use of 
the Bible is to be built, and its adoption is the only 
chance for saving the one elevating and inspiring 
element in the scanty instruction of our primary 
schools from being sacrificed to a politico-religious 
difiiculty." In his preface to The Great Prophecy 
of Israel's Eestoration, one of the Bible readings 
which he carefully prepared for the schools, Mr. Ar- 
nold says : " Only one literature there is, one great 
literature, for which the people have had a prepara- 
tion — the literature of the Bible. However far they 
may be from having a complete preparation for it, 
they have some, and it is the only great literature 
for which they have any. ... If poetry, philoso- 



82 ENGLAND AND WALES 

phy, and eloquence — if what we call in one word 
letters — are a power and a beneficent wonder-work- 
ing power in education, through the Bible only have 
the people much chance of getting at poetry, phi- 
losophy, and eloquence. . . . Chords of power are 
touched by this instruction which no other part of the 
instruction in a popular school reaches, and chords 
various, not the single religious chord only. The 
Bible is for the child in an elementary school almost 
his only contact with poetry and philosophy. . . . 
All who value the Bible may rest assured that thus to 
know and possess the Bible is the most certain way to 
increase and perpetuate its influence." 



I 



CHAPTEK III 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 



The germ of professional training of teachers ap- 
pears in England early in the present century in the 
monitorial system of Lancaster and Bell. One hun- 
dred years ago, Joseph Lancaster, rightly termed an 
" educational evangelist," created a wide-spread en- 
thusiasm in the education of the poor and proved that 
large schools might be maintained at very little ex- 
pense for teachers. An educational millennium was 
thought by many to be just at hand, though the peo- 
ple of England as a state had not yet recognized their 
obligation to educate children. Eor many decades 
the education of children was to be left to the private 
efforts of parents and the promptings of Christian 
philanthropy. Children of the lower classes were 
largely excluded from school by the inability or un- 
willingness of parents to be deprived of the earnings 
of their children. School fees were also a barrier. 
The monitorial system promised education to all chil- 
dren almost without money and without price. This 
system was necessarily mechanical in the extreme, re- 
quired little or no professional training, and resulted 

83 



84 ENGLAND AND WALES 

in teaching which was meager indeed. Joseph Lan- 
caster was for a time in the United States, and his 
system then seemed destined to revolutionize our own 
schools. The monitorial schools of 'New Haven, 
Philadelphia, Portland, and other towns and cities at- 
tracted wide attention. The large grammar school of 
Portland, Me., in grade above the intermediate and 
below the high school, may be taken as a sample of 
monitorial schools as they were maintained for a time 
in America, and may help us to understand some of 
their evils and their excellences. The writer was a 
pupil in the school, not long before the monitorial sys- 
tem in that city gave place to a better system. The 
boys, nearly 300 in all, were seated in the central 
part of the long room in such a way as to leave 
a broad space or aisle behind and on each side of the 
pupils' desks, separating them from three walls of the 
room. Against these walls at regular intervals were 
seats for the monitors. The desk of the only paid 
teacher was in the center of the platform at the front 
end of the room. His desk was flanked by desks for 
the monitors of order. These were a sort of reserve 
detective police to serve in turn, as requested, when 
the master's attention was fully engrossed in inspect- 
ing copy-books or in other duties. The floor of the 
long schoolroom was a gradual ascent from the 
master's platform to the rear end of the room. Each 
recitation hour began with a signal, when all the 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 85 

school, with the exception of the first or highest class, 
to which the monitors belonged, rose and filed toward 
the monitors' desks and stood about them in half- 
circles during the recitation. The position was the 
same while reciting in arithmetic, grammar, geogra- 
phy, and reading. These, with writing from copies 
and some attempt at composition writing, formed the 
intellectual pabulum of the school. 

During the recitation, the master, with one of his 
instruments of punishment tucked under his arm, 
visited the classes in turn, inspecting, examining, or 
punishing, as it seemed to him best. One form of 
punishment was the transfer of a pupil to a lower 
grade. If the master was at work at his desk instead 
of inspecting the classes his police functions were not 
suspended. An offender might frequently be seen 
with solemn face or smiling to " keep his courage up " 
going to report his misdemeanor to the master while 
the monitor watched the interview, and judged by the 
result whether the wrongdoer had been truthful. As 
it seemed a tonic to the good order of his class and in 
keeping with his dignity and reputation as a discipli- 
narian, it was not uncommon for a monitor to send 
up a boy. Unfortunately the unpopularity of some 
boys made it easy to report them for chastisement. 
The worst feature of the administration of the school 
appeared in connection with the monitors of order. 
A large-minded boy was quite apt to decline to 



86 ENGLAND AND WALES 

occupy one of the honorable seats on the platform. 
If he yielded to the request of the master, he seemed 
to have such poor vision during the time of his service 
that his slate was often blank, when the master had 
expected a full list of offenders. This soon resulted 
in retirement. A boy who really felt himself hon- 
ored in helping the master distribute penalties to 
wrongdoers was quite apt to magnify his office by 
noting full lists. Sometimes a boy who thought him- 
self wronged by the reporting monitor would trounce 
him out of school. But the monitor had the advan- 
tage, as the jurisdiction of the master extended over 
the boys when between the home and the school, and 
an extra punishment might be secured as an offset 
against the trouncing. The lack of ventilation, the 
wearisome round of book study, and the lack of suit- 
able employment for leisure intervals, occasioned the 
most mischief during the afternoon session. At length 
the master, having finished most of his work, called 
for the slates of the monitors of order. As he read, 
the criminals named left their seats and stood in the 
wide aisles, most of the pupils dropping their work to 
observe the arraignment, until perhaps a score stood 
awaiting reprimand or punishment. Then, while the 
pupils seated were in a hush of excitement, the master 
passed up one aisle and down the other, flogging 
deftly the accused if old offenders, who responded in 
tragic tones, real or feigned, or defied the worst with 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 87 

sullen, stoic pride. The performance having broken 
the monotony of the session and given the master the 
glow of generous exercise, the school was tolerably 
quiet till dismissal. If the boys could have had the 
fresh air which is now required by law in our school- 
rooms, with brief, vigorous gymnastic exercises at 
proper intervals, there might have been no occasion 
for the almost daily semibarbaric performance. 

Though many evils were inseparable from the 
monitorial system, in the hands of an enthusiastic 
tactful teacher, like Lancaster, much was accom- 
plished. An esprit de corps was awakened which 
made government easy, tended to develop manhood, 
and resulted in lessening the frequency of the more 
barbaric forms of punishment. 

The effect upon the monitors was in many cases 
most salutary; while some rested in a petty vanity, 
others, and the greater number, were made more 
earnest in their school work and more manly by their 
sense of responsibility. We boys had an abiding ad- 
miration for the head monitor, who occupied a low 
platform at the end of the room opposite the master's 
desk. He was ever firm but genial in maintaining 
order, and thorough in his teaching. He seemed to 
delight in restoring boys who had deviated from the 
path of right by persuasion rather than by penalty. 
"Not was he, in this, alone ; other monitors were sympa- 
thetic and helpful. The ability of one boy to help 



88 ENGLAND AND WALES 

another is sometimes greater tlian that of an adult. 
To many in a monitor's desk came the revelation of 
their life work; there they first felt the enthusiasm 
and experienced the delight of a teacher. The wri- 
ter can speak from an experience which led to a 
glad service in school and college extending over a 
period of nearly fifty years. Though the instruc- 
tion given by monitors was crude and mechanical, 
it was in many cases improved by faithful masters 
who taught their highest classes with much thor- 
oughness. A progressive teacher felt the need of 
doing good work with those from whom his aids 
were drawn. 

The great awakening to the need of better meth- 
ods of instruction which characterized the third 
decade of the nineteenth century led to the final 
abolition of monitorial schools in the United States. 
In England, from the monitorial was evolved the 
pupil-teacher system. 

To the monitorial schools, when compared with 
the schools that preceded, may be credited the more 
rapid acquisition of reading, the use of ruled slates, 
of blackboards and wall charts, the coordinate teach- 
ing of reading and writing, and written spelling by 
dictation. The prominence given to class work pre- 
pared the way for graded schools. As all the pupils 
in the Portland school were in one room, it was easy 
to grade them in monitorial classes without grading 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 89 

them according to their proficiency in all their studies. 
Some pupils were in the highest division in reading, 
though in a lower division in geography, and in a still 
lower in arithmetic. The monitorial schools also 
adopted better means of applying motives than the 
time-honored custom of frequent flogging, though the 
Portland school was not a brilliant instance of this 
improvement. 

Dr. Kay, Assistant Poor Law Commissioner in the 
eastern counties of England, thoroughly convinced of 
the defects of the monitorial system, planned and in a 
measure secured some teaching and training of moni- 
tors by skilled teachers. Thus, as early as 1836, we 
find the beginnings of the pupil-teachers system which 
obtains in Great Britain. Three years later Dr. Kay 
became secretary of the Committee of the Council of 
Education. His efforts to establish a state normal 
school failed; but his forcible exposition of the 
necessity of training teachers for their work was not 
without effect. In 1839, the £10,000 which had been 
voted in 1835 by Parliament for the establishment of 
a state normal school was divided equally between the 
IN'ational Society for promoting the Education of the 
Poor in the Principles of the Church and the British 
and Foreign School Society. The former, generally 
termed the ^National Society, we have seen, is main- 
tained by the supporters of the Established Church, 
the latter by dissenters and those who approve of the 



90 ENGLAND AND WALES 

exclusion of sectarianism from public schools, though 
insisting upon the systematic study of the Bible. The 
training-college established in London by this society 
still bears the name of the Borough Road Training- 
College, though recently moved on to an ample site 
at Isleworth, a suburb of the city. Later, its counter- 
part, a college for women, was established on Stock- 
well Road, London. These two take high rank 
among the training-colleges of England. The £5,000 
received by the E^ational Society was used to establish 
the first training-school, now an excellent college for 
men under the auspices of the Established Church, St. 
Marks, in Chelsea. This, of course, is a college in 
which the teaching of the dogmas of the Church is in- 
cluded in the curriculum. The religious wrangle, 
which is ever ready to recur when school questions are 
under discussion, in 1835 prevented the establish- 
ment of one undenominational normal school. Had 
such a school been established for the training of 
teachers it would have helped much in introducing a 
really national system of schools. 

It is evident that the movement to provide suit- 
able teachers for the schools of England by establish- 
ing training-colleges was contemporaneous with the 
organization of the Massachusetts Board of Educa- 
tion and the founding of the first two normal schools 
in America, that now at Eramingham and that at 
Westfield, Mass. The history of education shows 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 91 

that these measures in England and in the United 
States originated in the patriotic efforts of Stein and 
others to restore the ruins of the Napoleonic wars 
and lift Prussia from her degradation by inaugura- 
ting an efficient system of public schools. Earlier, 
Kousseau had heralded the return to nature in the 
education of children. Pestalozzi, with an almost 
angelic love and sympathy for children, attempted 
to realize the theories of Eousseau, not follow- 
ing, however, the dicta of any who had preceded 
him, but gaining his practical philosophy and in- 
spiration by the study of the orphan children with 
whom he lived and labored, and for whom he spent 
himself and his substance with all the devotion of a 
mother. Froebel studied the child with a keener phil- 
osophic ken than Rousseau or Pestalozzi, and was led 
to emphasize the great fundamental principle of edu- 
cation that the human mind is developed through its 
own activity. Eroebel taught that it was the busi- 
ness of a teacher to furnish the opportunities and the 
occasions for the child to gain knowledge and power 
by his own self-activity. The child was not to be 
crammed and compelled, but guided and encouraged. 
These men, and others who, whether their contempo- 
raries or not, must be reckoned as their coworkers, 
ushered in for western Europe, for America, for the 
world, a new era of educational progress. The im- 
pulse they imparted has never waned. To-day, as 



92 ENGLAND AND WALES 

never before, it is felt in every department of in- 
struction. 

In 1846 Parliament increased the education grant, 
for the purpose mainly of securing more competent 
masters and for the better training of pupil-teachers. 
Hereafter these were to receive special instruction 
in their work and to be allowed a limited sum for 
services. After five years of approved service, suc- 
cessfully passing the Queen's Scholarship and Stu- 
dentship Examination, they could be admitted to 
a training-college and receive from the national 
treasury a Queen's scholarship of £20 or £25 a 
year during the two years' residence at the col- 
lege. The proficiency of the students was to be 
determined by the examinations. As training-col- 
leges now received pay from the state in the form of 
scholarship grants for their students, so far as their 
competency to teach had been approved, and as each 
of the Church and other religious bodies desired to 
train its own young men and women as teachers, the 
number of training-colleges increased. In 1860 
there were 35 in England and Wales. These 
were for the most part connected with the Anglican 
Church. Only two were undenominational. 

The act of 1870 gave new impulse to the training 
of teachers. Eour years' service as a pupil-teacher 
was long required of one who would pass from an 
elementary school to a training-college. A shorter 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 93 

service as pupil-teacher is now required. Students 
in the elementary schools prepare for the Queen's 
Scholarship Examination while acting as pupil-teach- 
ers, receiving some advanced instruction from the 
principal teachers under whom they serve or from 
teachers at pupil-centers. These centers or teachers' 
schools are maintained in London and many other 
large towns. In London a pupil-teacher attends a 
center from three to ^ye half-days per week. In 
smaller towns and in rural districts the pupil-teachers 
are convened on Saturdays and on certain evenings to 
receive instruction in addition to that given by teach- 
ers during school sessions. Arrangements are some- 
times made for their professional instruction in 
private schools a part of some days of the week. The 
State Departmental Committee on the Pupil-Teach- 
er's System appointed on January 4, 1897, recom- 
mended that no classes of pupil-teachers meet in the 
evening. In some parts of Wales pupil-teachers 
must attend a secondary or high school the first two 
years of their appointment and practise two follow- 
ing years. At Barry, South Wales, and in other 
places, we are told, the experiment is already made of 
employing as pupil-teachers only those who come 
from a secondary school. Pupil-teachers also con- 
tinue their professional education, not in pupil-centers 
nor under the teachers of the elementary school in 
which they are employed, but in secondary schools. 



94 ENGLAND AND WALES 

Probably this plan, or some modification of it, will be 
adopted in England when a system of secondary 
schools, as now proposed, is established. Then 
teachers will have a broader intellectual preparation, 
and will not as readily relapse after graduation from 
the training-school into the routine work to which 
they are now strongly habituated by their three or 
four years' practise as pupil-teachers. It is worth 
something to the state and to one who is looking for- 
ward to teaching as a vocation to test his aptness for 
the business; but he would make a far better teacher 
if a larger part of his time were spent in a generous 
preparation for the normal course of the training- 
college, and less time in practise. ^Neither Germany 
nor Switzerland, countries foremost in elementary 
education, would tolerate the pupil-teacher system of 
England because of its narrowing effect upon him who 
intends to become a teacher, and because of its injus- 
tice to the children whom he teaches. The system, 
we have seen, is an evolution from the monitorial sys- 
tem of Lancaster and Bell. It has been maintained 
because of the tendency of the English to do as they 
have done, and because of the wretched economy of 
saving money by employing pupil-teachers instead of 
more competent and more expensive instructors. 
1898, when the " educational estimate " was before 
the House of Commons, Sir John Gorst said: "Pupil- 
teachers were, I suppose, originally sanctioned in the 



of J 
In* 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 95 

school, and were paid for out of the public money in 
the expectation that they would only be temporary, 
but in practise they were so extremely useful as 
furnishing in the school cheap child labor that the 
object of their institution is liable to be lost in the 
secondary purpose which they serve." On another 
occasion he said, when speaking of the country schools 
which suffer most from the excess of pupil-teachers: 
" The general condition of the country pupil-teacher 
is to be a great deal more of a school drudge than a 
pupil. They have to go to school early, often walk- 
ing a long distance. They have to remain behind 
when the other children go home. They get their in- 
struction partly before school, partly during play 
hours, when the other children are in the playgrounds; 
partly during the dinner hour, when other children 
are eating their dinner; and partly after the instruc- 
tion is closed. It is teaching given by a tired teacher 
to a tired pupil. ... I am afraid, to this dire 
necessity of having cheap teachers in the schools, in 
the first place the welfare of the poor school drudges 
themselves, and in the next place the national interest 
in getting better trained and better taught teachers 
for the rural districts, will have to give way." About 
25 per cent of the teaching force in England and 
Wales are pupil-teachers. The proportion in Scot- 
land is considerably less. The voluntary rural schools 
have the highest proportion. 



96 ENGLAND AND WALES 

The officials of the Education Department are not 
ignorant of the evils noticed, and are trying to remove 
them. The code of 1899 when submitted to Parlia- 
ment for ratification contained the following clause: 
" After the 1st of January, 1900, no pupil-teacher 
will be recognized in a school in which there are not 
at least two adult teachers employed, except with the 
special consent of the inspector." 

There was so much opposition to this " advanced 
measure," especially on the part of Churchmen caring 
for parish schools, that it was struck out. The 
poverty of the parish schools was the grand argument. 
Another progressive measure was more fortunate in 
securing approval. We quote it: 

" For pupil-teachers admitted from the 1st of 
July, 1900, or any later date, the length of engage- 
ment will ordinarily be three years, but may be two 
or one, provided that (a) the candidate passes the ex- 
amination prescribed by Schedule Y for the first or 
second year, and (h) the end of the reduced term of 
service falls beyond the completion of the candidate's 
eighteenth year." 

The department are also doing what they can to 
raise the age at which pupil-teachers may be em- 
ployed. 

The code defines a training-college as " an institu- 
tion either for boarding, lodging, and instruction, or 
for merely instructing students who are preparing to 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 97 

become certificated teachers in elementary schools." 
The former are called residential, the latter day 
training-colleges. A residential college may receive 
a few day students. Training-colleges are required 
" to include, either on their premises or within a 
convenient distance, a practising school in which the 
students may learn the practical exercise of their pro- 
fession." 

As the large majority of the residential training- 
colleges were founded by the Anglican Church before 
the act of 1870, the parliamentary grants for training- 
colleges help to maintain a system of religious in- 
struction that is very objectionable to many non-con- 
formists, and which in many sections practically ex- 
cludes conscientious non-conformist students from the 
professional training now provided mainly at public 
expense. The conscience clause in the act of 1870 
permits children of non-conformists to be excused 
from religious instruction in elementary schools, but 
a conscience clause has not been applied to residential 
colleges. This condition of things gives ground to 
the following statements made in the House of Com- 
mons by Mr. Lloyd George, one of the Welsh mem- 
bers, April 19, 1898: 

" I think it fair to state that 75 per cent of 
the children attending Church schools in Wales are 
dissenters. !Not a single child of a dissenter can en- 
ter the teaching profession in these districts except 



98 ENGLAND AND WALES 

on condition that lie abandon his faith. . . . The 
teaching profession is the only profession in which 
the state assists a poor child to climb. . . . That 
the non-conformists should receive worse treatment 
at the hands of the state than is meted out to Par- 
sees and Mohammedans in the state schools of India 
is to my mind a gross scandal." The grievance of 
which Mr. George justly complains is that in par- 
ishes occupied by Church schools it is impossible, 
with very few exceptions, for children of dissenters 
to become pupil-teachers, and hence impossible for 
them in this way to prepare for admission to a train- 
ing-college. In accordance with the Act of 1890, 
day training-colleges have been established in every 
town in England and Wales having a university or 
a university college. These training-colleges would 
be termed in America simply pedagogical courses in 
college. The term " college " in England is oftener 
than in the United States used in its broader and origi- 
nal meaning — to denote an association or class of men 
engaged in a common pursuit. The pedagogical 
classes that constitute the day training-colleges are 
usually small. The whole number making up the 
day training-college at Oxford during the year 1898 
was 13 men; 22 were in the University of Cambridge. 
A good share of them, both at Oxford and Cambridge, 
were reading for a degree rather than attempting to 
gain the mastery of the principles of their profession 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 99 

or skill in its practise. The attendance at the three 
day colleges in Wales, at Aberystwith, Bangor, and 
Cardiff, is much larger, and at other places where the 
expenses are less than at Oxford and Cambridge. 
If one is to enter any one of the three Roman Catholic 
training-colleges he must subscribe to the tenets of 
the Roman Catholic faith. The candidate for admis- 
sion to an Anglican training-college may be expected 
to be questioned respecting his confirmation and bap- 
tism and whether he is a communicant. The two 
Wesleyan residential training-colleges, one for men 
and the other for women, located in London, regard 
conversion as essential to a teacher, and ask the candi- 
date for admission to either college for credentials of 
Christian character. These Methodist colleges have 
done much to emphasize the Christian purpose and 
spirit which should characterize a teacher. In schools 
in London and elsewhere taught by teachers from 
these colleges faithful work is done and an excellent 
moral tone is maintained. 

As the authorities of each college and the local 
committees settle their own terms of admission, candi- 
dates usually select the college they wish to enter, 
pass its examination, and by recommendation from the 
college present themselves to officers of the Educa- 
tion Department for examination and admission. 
After one, by passing his examinations, is entitled to 
enter the college he previously elected he is not 

L.ofC. 



100 ENGLAND AND WALES 

allowed to transfer himself to another college with- 
out the consent of the authorities of the college he 
had proposed to enter. 

We have already noted some of the different re- 
ligious tests a college may apply, as it is Roman 
Catholic, Anglican, or Methodist. The remainder of 
the examinations for admission to the different de- 
nominational colleges may be somewhat similar. I 
will note the examination of a candidate for admission 
to one of the Wesleyan colleges as prescribed by the 
committee in general charge of the college. 

In connection with credentials of Christian char- 
acter, credentials of preparation at a Wesleyan school 
are required. This is not a prescribed condition, but 
16 a custom arising from the fact that the Methodist 
churches annually contribute to the support of their 
training-colleges. They also contribute to the sup- 
port of many of the Wesleyan schools in different 
parts of Great Britain. These schools furnish twice 
as many candidates as can be accommodated in the 
two colleges. The candidate is examined respecting 
his health, whether he has ever suffered from any 
form of chest affection, whether from rheumatism, 
whether any near relatives have been afflicted with 
consumption or insanity, whether either parent is 
dead, and if so, from what disease and at what age. 
The age of parents li^dng is also required, the condi- 
tion of their health and of the health of brothers and 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 101 

sisters, if any. A certificate of healtli and of vaccina- 
tion is also required. The candidate is examined as 
to the books he has read, under the following heads: 
Biblical and theological; Methodist and devotional; 
history and biography; travel and natural history; 
science; poetry and literature. The candidates are 
required to give the names of the authors, as well as 
the titles, of the books. A short essay written in the 
preparatory school, with the teacher's marks of cor- 
rection, is also submitted. A report of the local com- 
mittee of the day-school in which the candidate has 
served as a pupil-teacher is handed in, stating the time 
of service, intellectual ability, teaching power, dis- 
ciplinary power, character, and general disposition. 
The candidate affirms in writing that if admitted to 
the college, he will remain in residence two years, 
health permitting, will conform to the rules and regu- 
lations of the college, will upon graduation serve as 
an assistant or principal teacher in a public elemen- 
tary school, and do his utmost to obtain as soon as 
possible, by good conduct and efficient service, a 
" parchment certificate.'' The candidate pledges 
himself not to remove from any school in which he is 
employed nor resign without the consent of the Wes- 
leyan Education Committee, and not to withdraw 
from the profession of a teacher in a public elemen- 
tary school before he has actually received his cer- 
tificate, without the consent of the Education Com- 



102 ENGLAND AND WALES 

mittee. This declaration is indorsed by tlie parent or 
guardian. If signed by the parent the statement is in 
these words, " This declaration has been signed by 
my son with my full consent." 

The inquiries made of the candidate respecting 
diseases of the respiratory organs show that these 
diseases are most feared. These in England have re- 
ceived large attention from medical men, and the 
death-rate is only one-half of that fifty years ago, yet 
it is not very uncommon to find in London in the 
winter season a thousand teachers withdrawn for a 
time from the schoolroom by bronchial attacks. 

The state supports the colleges in securing com- 
pliance with their conditions of admission. In case 
of non-compliance, " the department may refuse to 
grant parchment certificates '' to the derelict students 
" or to recognize them as certificated teachers." 

After the candidate has passed the college ex- 
amination, and is recommended to the state authori- 
ties to be examined for admission to a training-college 
as a Queen's scholar, he presents to the Examining 
Board credentials of having passed successfully his 
annual examinations while a pupil-teacher. The ex- 
amination is conducted at the several colleges, but the 
examination papers are prepared at the central office 
at London. The subjects in which the candidates 
are examined for admission to the training-colleges 
include reading, repetition, penmanship, dictation, 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 103 

theory of teaching, practise of teaching, geography, 
history, English composition and language, and liter- 
ature, arithmetic, algebra and English (for men only), 
domestic economy and needlework (for women only), 
elementary science, languages, drawing, and music. 
Candidates who have not been pupil-teachers must be 
over eighteen years of age. 

The written work of the candidate is inspected 
and marked by officials belonging to the Education 
Department. When the results are made up, the can- 
didates are divided into three classes. Those whose 
record places them in the first or second class can 
enter a training-college, if there is room for them. 
The total number of candidates presented for exami- 
nation in 1897 was 10,390. Gf these, 1,245 men and 
4,256 women passed in the first and second class. 
Deducting those who stated on their papers that they 
did not desire to enter a training-college, 1,045 men 
and 2,494 women were qualified and desired to enter a 
residential college; but for 165 men and 1,194 women 
there were no places. In 1900, 4,085 students were 
enrolled in the residential colleges — 1,488 men and 
2,597 women. The total grant for these colleges 
in 1900 was £151,933, including grants to day col- 
leges. 

Though the sifting process seems to be applied to 
candidates by abundant examinations, the lack of 
sufficient preparation before entering a training-col- 



104: ENGLAND AND WALES 

lege is a common complaint in many colleges. My 
own observation of students and classes led me to be- 
lieve that the preparation for entering a training-col- 
lege was technically thorough, but narrow and book- 
ish, owing to the routine and mechanical work in- 
separable from the present pupil-teacher system. I 
found that many teachers in training-colleges were 
hopefully looking forward to the time when a sec- 
ondary course of instruction shall be substituted for a 
large part, if not for all, of the four years of pupil- 
teaching. A pupil-teacher must spend much of his 
time in preparing and giving drill in the elementary 
studies. The master must train the pupil-teachers to 
acquire skill in approved devices that they may be im- 
mediately efficient; he has little time and perhaps 
little inclination to discuss the deeper principles and 
broader views of the studies taught. There is much 
to admire in the accuracy and neatness of the papers 
of pupil-teachers. They should have the enrichment 
of culture studies as well as the thorough drill in read- 
ing, writing, and other elementary studies before 
entering a training-college. 

The elementary acquisitions of candidates is often 
defective. In the Revised Instructions, recently 
issued to his Majesty's inspectors, attention is called 
to the training of pupil-teachers, and to the need 
which exists for " making that training effective." 
A training-college includes a normal college and a 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 105 

practising school. Tlie instructions add that " it is 
the frequent complaint of the authorities of normal 
colleges that much of their time and labor during the 
first year of training are necessarily expended upon 
elementary work which ought to have been done 
during the period of apprenticeship." And the re- 
port of his Majesty's inspectors bears witness " to the 
superficial acquirements of many of the pupil-teach- 
ers, and to the imperfect and unsystematic character 
of the preparation they often receive for their future 
work." 

Three-fourths of the ordinary expenses incurred 
by students during the two years of study at a train- 
ing-college is paid to the college by parliamentary; 
grants. Thirty-six pounds per male student in resi- 
dential colleges per year. A smaller sum is paid for 
women and for students in day colleges. This is paid 
to the college, but is not due until a student has com- 
pleted his course at a training-college, and as a teacher 
in the elementary schools has shown sufficient ability 
to receive from the Education Department, upon 
recommendation of his Majesty's inspector, a " parch- 
ment certificate." This is usually obtained within 
two years after graduation. This arrangement tends 
to prevent the expenditure of state money in training 
incompetent teachers, and to make the college careful 
in selecting and in training of students. I found 
teachers in the colleges plumed themselves upon the 



106 ENGLAND AND WALES 

success of their graduates in tlie schools of tlie state 
rather than on the number of students in attendance. 

The prescribed studies of the two years' course in 
a normal college include physiology, psychology, 
school management, etc., reading and recitation, pen- 
manship, arithmetic, grammar, English language and 
literature and composition, geography, physiography, 
history, algebra, geometry, music, the elements of 
political economy, and the Latin and French lan- 
guages. E'eedlework and domestic economy are pre- 
scribed in colleges for women. These can omit a 
good share of the mathematics and political economy. 
Limited courses in the natural sciences are required 
in most of the colleges, if not in all. The local com- 
mittee or managers are held to be primarily responsi- 
ble for the condition and work of the college. They 
conduct, or require the teachers to conduct, indi- 
vidual examinations and to keep the results on file for 
their inspection and for the inspection of his Majesty's 
inspectors. As these state inspectors take no cogni- 
zance of religious instruction, the managers in de- 
nominational colleges give such instruction special 
attention. And the managers of the colleges of the 
British and Foreign School Society intend that these 
undenominational colleges shall take no second place 
in Scripture teaching. 

While there is a good degree of uniformity in the 
work of the normal colleges, as in the normal schools 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 107 

of the United States, there is also much variety, 
owing to local conditions, the predilection of teachers, 
and the optional studies allowed. In some colleges 
the students are strongly encouraged to pursue 
optional studies that will enable them to enter a uni- 
versity, and thus ultimately secure a degree. The 
inspectors, as shown by their reports, seem generally 
to favor this reading for university examinations. 
There are some inspectors and some colleges, how- 
ever, who do not favor such reading during the two 
years' course, but deem it far better, unless the stu- 
dent has exceptional ability, that he should give him- 
self wholly to those lines of study and practise that 
tend to form the skilled teacher of an elementary 
school. This is the attitude of the two Wesleyan 
colleges, and the excellent work of many of their 
graduates, whose schools I have visited, seems to 
justify their position. Heading for university exami- 
nations does not seem to nourish the professional en- 
thusiasm of a teacher. The larger number of young 
men, I am told, prepare for these examinations by 
the study of the sciences, owing perhaps to the fact 
that a knowledge of the sciences is more closely linked^ 
to the objective teaching of elementary schools, or 
because it is easier by such study for most students 
in a normal college to matriculate at the university. 
The opinion is steadily gaining strength, that even in 
elementary schools all the more responsible positions 



108 ENGLAND AND WALES 

should be held by those who have completed a course 
at a university and at a training-college. 

The unwise ambition of many students in a train- 
ing-college to secure a university degree is well stated 
in the official report of one of her Majesty's inspectors 
for the year 1898. " The student, ardent and ambi- 
tious of the distinction of a degree, is unhappily often 
ill prepared to undertake with any facility the univer- 
sity course; and, after a severe ordeal of study, much 
of which is devoid of any power to stimulate the in- 
tellect, such as the dry study of formal grammar, he 
leaves with the degree, it is true, but with very little 
of what a degree is supposed to betoken, l^or does 
he leave a better teacher. His higher studies have 
thrown little fresh light upon his professional ones. 
... I am far from saying that there are not 
students who have taken degrees and been greatly 
benefited by the discipline of their preparation; but 
they are, as far as I know, quite exceptional. We 
are running before we can walk." 

The fact that students in a normal college are 
excused from a part of the prescribed curriculum, 
upon passing a university examination, is not adapted 
to give emphasis to the specific work of a normal col- 
lege. The university examinations come in to in- 
crease the multifarious examinations that crowd the 
closing weeks of a normal-college course. Inspector 
Barnett remarks in his report of the training-colleges 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 109 

for 1898: "The time seems to have arrived for 
making some sort of a stand against the excessive 
number of examinations to which individual students 
are subjected. It would seem to be taken for granted 
that each student must be minutely examined and 
separately assessed in every subject of the curriculum 
which he or she pursues, and it is not too much to say 
that the last third of the year is spent in a perpetual 
round of examinations. I do not think that there can 
be any doubt that this is exceedingly injurious both 
physically and mentally, especially in the case of the 
overanxious and overburdened women, both teachers 
and students; and I am equally certain that the prac- 
tise does not secure more practical results in actual 
achievement than would come from a reasonable use 
of the sampling system which is succeeding so well in 
the [elementary] schools." Another inspector says: 
" It is only in the second year that the students are 
able to deal effectively with subjects of a general 
character; but as those subjects are numerous and 
marks must be gained, they push the professional 
studies into a corner. The evil is, that none of the 
general subjects are treated adequately from the 
pedagogic standpoint ; they receive a purely academic 
treatment. ... As things are now, it is much 
to be wished that the bulk of our Queen's scholars 
could undergo a three-years' course — ^the last of which 
should be a purely pedagogic one; but as this is 

10 



110 ENGLAND AND WALES 

impracticable, it is necessary to take steps to apply 
speedily a remedy for the evil of being obliged to ad- 
mit candidates inadequately prepared into the train- 
ing-colleges." The inspector then urges the prepara- 
tion of candidates in secondary schools. The four 
years' experience as pupil-teachers gives ease at the 
blackboard and before the class. Ease of class man- 
agement and freedom of manner are secured; but 
cramping habits by routine class work are too often 
acquired from which the students in a training-col- 
lege are not easily freed, and the tendency to cling to 
devices and ignore the application of principles pre- 
sented in the training-college is marked. The eight 
weeks given to practise during the two-years' course 
is not time used wholly in applying principles and in 
gaining better methods; while practising a week at a 
time the student also studies in his normal course, 
availing himself of the notes of his fellows, and thus 
endeavors to keep pace with his class. This, so far as 
observed, was the usual course. One of the inspect- 
ors says of the practising schools : " In several cases, 
and chiefly, of course, in those of the larger colleges, 
the schools are too small. To get over this difficulty, 
recourse is had to external schools of different types; 
but this has its own disadvantages, the chief of them 
being the absence of adequate supervision of the 
students working in them. ... Is it wonderful 
that under such conditions the work of the students 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 111 

is comparatively barren of results? They lapse, as I 
have said, into their old faults, which gain in strength 
and vitality; and what should be stimulating and 
quickening is perfunctory and fruitless. I have late- 
ly visited several practising schools and seen students 
at work in them, and in no case did I see any 
proper supervision. ... I would suggest that the 
whole staff should be employed in supervising the 
work of the schools. This would produce greater 
unity of observation, and consequently of criticism. 
To several of the training-colleges these criticisms 
do not apply, for they have ample practising schools 
forming an integral part of the college. In some 
practising schools I found the student's practise was 
effectively supervised, in many it was not. The 
teachers in the normal college in many cases did not 
have the hold upon the practising school which is most 
desirable in order to make the teaching in the college 
bear fruit in practise." 

The stricture of the inspector above quoted will 
apply to not a few of the normal schools of the United 
States, so far as lack of effective supervision is con- 
cerned. There is often a lack of unity. The normal 
teacher instructs in principles and methods; the 
teacher in the practising school, all unconscious of the 
special instruction of the students in the normal 
classes, criticizes their teaching according to his or 
her own peculiar view. If a critic teacher is em- 



112 ENGLAND AND WALES 

ployed, it is impossible for this critic to be so far 
informed of the progressive teaching in the several 
departments of a normal school as to adequately 
supervise and criticize the teaching of all of the 
students. 

Unity and effectiveness in professional training 
require that the heads of departments in the normal 
school shall, coordinately with the teachers in the 
practising school, plan and supervise the teaching of 
the normal students. The constant interchange of 
the views and the plans of the normal instructor and 
of the teachers of the children in the practising 
schools tends strongly to improve the class work of 
each and to render each more effective in supervision. 
The practising school should be so well supplied with 
expert teachers that there will be an ample staff 
even if students from the normal classes are not de- 
tailed to teach. These regular teachers, with such 
aid as the normal instructors may render, will consti- 
tute a sufficient supervising force. A whole division 
should be excused from work in the normal classes 
while engaged in teaching; this will give time to 
the normal instructor to supervise teaching and to 
cooperate with the teachers of the practising school. 
This will exclude all other work of the division, 
save teaching and preparatory study during the 
weeks allotted to practise. With such emphasis 
put upon teaching, four weeks will be more helpful 



■ 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 113 

than eight in which the student must teach a good 
part or all of the sessions, and at the same time at- 
tempt to keep pace with his fellows who are advan- 
cing in his normal class. 

Some refer the neglect of professional study in 
the training-colleges of England not wholly to the 
large place the traditional examinations still occupy 
in the training-colleges, but to the practical tendency 
of the English mind. Approved devices of teaching 
tested by use they adopt; theories and principles of 
teaching evolved by the study of psychology are less 
attractive. Englishmen have been compared to the 
Eomans, who seldom invented, but profited by others' 
inventions. While the English furnish brilliant in- 
dividual exceptions to all this, yet as a people they 
are often found conservatively cherishing the old, 
until Frenchmen, or Germans, or some other people, 
have established, proved, and enforced the value of 
the new. The Bishop of London in a recent public 
address affirmed that the English were somewhat 
" slow and old-fashioned." This feature of the Eng- 
lish character appears in the curriculum of the train- 
ing-colleges. Inspector Coward, in his report of 
those colleges for the year 1898, after naming a few 
colleges that have workrooms for manual instruction, 
adds: " Still it is true that in a majority of the col- 
leges there is an entire absence of what I can not but 
regard a most important adjunct to a training-college, 



114 ENGLAND AND WALES 

and especially in the female colleges. The conse- 
quence of this is that their students leave without 
carrying away any practical knowledge of what the 
meaning, the limits, and the value of manual training 
to the citizens are. E^ay, more than this : they carry 
away no knowledge of any kind, of a branch of in- 
struction which is daily forcing itself into notice on 
utilitarian grounds, and which should take prominent 
rank in the curriculum of every type of school." 

The ways in which those who are to teach may re- 
ceive training in the art of teaching may be classed 
as follows: 

1. Model lessons given by the normal instructor 
to a class of children, or to normal students, who, 
during the exercise, respond as children of the appro- 
priate grade. 

2. Model lessons given by the normal students to 
a class of children or to fellow students who assume 
the place of children. 

3. The teacher of a class of normal students in the 
first part of the recitation hour outlines a plan of 
teaching the next lesson, requiring the pupils to teach 
the same in the order of the topics given, during the 
recitation hour of the next day, using, as far as the 
subject permits, illustrations of their own. During 
the remainder of the hour the students individually 
teach several or all of their class the several topics of 
the lesson previously assigned. The mutual criti- 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 115 

cism, wliicli is encouraged, and whicli follows the 
teaching, adds much to the value of this work. 

In some of the best normal schools in the United 
States this mode has taken the place of the academic 
recitations common in most schools, and tends 
strongly to eliminate mere academical work from 
every department of the school. Another result is, 
that students are led to estimate progress in their 
work not by intellectual acquisitions so much as by 
excellence in teaching. A still more important result 
is the rousing and sustaining of enthusiasm in acquir- 
ing knowledge useful in teaching, and especially in 
preparing it for use in teaching. This mode, next to 
teaching in one's own school, tends to form the habit 
of reducing one's knowledge to pedagogic form. 

4. Teaching in a practise school under adequate 
supervision. The excellence of the supervision goes 
far to determine the value of this mode of acquiring 
the art of teaching. To gain the full benefit of this 
teaching the student should be versed in the princi- 
ples of teaching and intelligently apply them. Much 
reliance is placed upon this mode of training in the 
United States. In England it is too often allowed to 
lapse into the ineffective routine of the pupil-teacher. 

5. Full charge of a school under the general di- 
rection and oversight of an experienced teacher. 
Those who by years of service as pupil-teachers have 
tested their ability to control pupils have less need 



116 ENGLAND AND WALES 

of this training than the normal students of the United 
States, where there is no system of pupil-teaching in 
the elementary or other schools. 

But the time given to practise-teaching and vigi- 
lance in supervision have value or are valueless as 
the methods of teaching and control are or are not in 
accord with correct principles of teaching. To speak 
of the value of the work in English training-colleges, 
whether in the department of the normal college or 
of the practise school, we need to make some answer 
to the questions: What is teaching? What are its 
principles? What are its methods? 

Teaching is a means to an end, that end is educa- 
tion. As an end. Professor Laurie defines education 
as the realization of the ideal man; Aristotle, as that 
state in which we act according to reason; others, as 
that state in which one is able and disposed to act in 
accord with the laws of his being. These, and many 
others that might be given, accord in large degi-ee, 
though the phraseology will vary as the point of view 
varies and as one phrase or another is made emphatic. 
If we may infer from the teaching of the Great Master 
what would be His definition, it may be expressed in 
these words : that state in which one is able and dis- 
posed to do the will of God. The definitions we have 
noted, and many others that might be given, though 
differing in terms, will not be found at variance with 
the view of Christ. 



TRAINING-COLLEGES llY 

The term education is often defined as the means 
by which education as an end is gained. In this sense 
John Milton defines it when he says ; " I call that 
complete and generous education which fits a man to 
perform, justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all 
the offices, both public and private, of peace and 
war." Huxley's famous definition in his Lay Ser- 
mons also defines education as a means. 

Having education as an end in mind, teaching 
may be defined as occasioning knowledge and mental 
activity adapted to secure education. Some have 
used the word " causing '' instead of the word " occa- 
sioning," forgetting that the mind causes its own 
activity, and that all that a teacher can do is to occa- 
sion it. In order to properly occasion the self- 
activity of the pupil, the teacher must be aware of the 
ways in which the mind is made to act — i. e., of the 
laws of mental activity. Any one of these laws when 
used to determine teaching becomes a principle of 
teaching. Some of these are of such constant appli- 
cation in teaching that they are called the principles 
of teaching. These have never received a uniform 
statement, yet there is among thoughtful teachers a 
substantial agreement respecting many of them. 

One principle is that knowledge and mental 
activity are primarily occasioned by objects of 
thought. This principle applies whether the object 
is objective or subjective. When the mind has cog- 



118 ENGLAND AND WALES 

nized an object and associated it with a word or otlier 
sign, then the word or sign becomes a means of repre- 
senting the object. The relative positions of words 
and signs and their varied forms may also indicate 
the relations of the objects of thought. Words and 
other signs are secondary occasions of knowledge and 
mental activity. 

In applying this principle in teaching any subject, 
the teacher first presents objects, subjective or ob- 
jective. All teaching of words must be preceded by 
object-teaching or the words will fail to represent the 
object and the pupil will not be taught. 

A second principle is, that the mind first gains a 
knowledge of the whole, then of the conditions and 
parts — i. e., we learn by analysis. 

A formula of this objective analytic teaching in 
accord with the principles noticed may be stated in 
this way: 

1. Lead the pupil to fix his attention upon the 
object adapted to occasion the mental activity de- 
sired. 

2. Direct him by questions, by topics, or by other 
means, in the study of it. 

3. Lead him to express his own ideas. 

4. Help him to secure correct expressions. 

In such teaching the self-activity of the mind, 
upon which Froebel and other emment teachers wisely 
insist, is duly regarded. 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 119 

In a course of study another principle must never 
be disregarded, viz., the knowledge one gains and 
one's mental activity depend upon one's age and ac- 
quisitions. 

All teaching that aims at teaching scientific truth 
must also recognize the principle that the mind first 
gains knowledge of facts, and by thinking of these, of 
scientific truths. The teaching in ancient Greece 
previous to the time of Socrates, and later in medieval 
Europe, was the reverse of what this principle re- 
quires. Teaching and studying in accord with these 
principles have developed modern science. Due re- 
gard to these principles has led to the laboratory 
method of study in our schools. Pupils are led to 
gain facts by their own observation, to note them 
accurately, and, by their own thinking, to arrive at 
scientific truth. Such teaching is opposed to the text- 
book method that begins with general propositions, 
unintelligible until somehow the pupil has returned 
to them after considering some specific truths or facts 
on which they depend and which elucidate them. In 
all her schools England is freeing herself from medi- 
eval methods. Even in Oxford University, so con- 
servative and so slow in change, modern methods are 
prevailing. In her best elementary schools there is 
very much that a Eroebel or a Pestalozzi could but 
approve. 

While teaching in accord with the principles we 



120 ENGLAND AND WALES 

have noticed and with others which might be stated, 
the way in which a teacher employs language in teach- 
ing naturally divides teaching into two classes: 
teaching proper, or heuristic teaching, as an English 
writer has termed it, and lecturing. In teaching 
proper, the teacher does not tell the pupil; but by 
questions, by topics, or by other oral or written ex- 
pressions, fixes the attention of the pupil upon the 
real objects of thought, and so guides his study that 
he finds out for himself in proper order what is to be 
learned, reporting to the teacher orally or in writing. 
Oral language is employed with young children, 
making the teaching exercises conversational. Writ- 
ten questions or topics direct older pupils in the study 
of objects or subjects, and have the advantage of re- 
quiring each to investigate for himself, to reach his 
own conclusions, and report for himself, unaided by 
the reports of his fellow students. This is eventually 
the laboratory method, adapted to make self-reliant, 
thorough students. It individualizes teaching. 

In lecturing, the teacher investigates the objects 
or subjects for himself, and in language, oral or writ- 
ten, endeavors to impart the results to his pupils. 
Text-books, exclusive of those that test the student's 
knowledge or skill, in general may be classed as writ- 
ten lectures. Like other books, they conserve the 
thought of the past, and, if the reader is properly 
prepared for them by genuine teaching, guide and 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 121 

give impulse to study. And to these and other writ- 
ten lectures one may recur again and again, as one 
may not be able in the case of the oral lecture. 

The oral lecture has the advantage of allowing the 
lecturer to present the latest results of study and re- 
search; it also enables him to adapt his thought and 
expression to the needs of different classes. Often 
the best that a lecturer accomplishes is not the in- 
formation he imparts, but the enthusiasm he kindles 
and sustains in the study of the subject to which he 
is devoted. He helps the pupil to form an ideal of 
a patient and successful student. " The trophies of 
Miltiades,'' said Themistocles, " will not suffer me 
to sleep." The vantage-ground reached by a teacher 
encourages the student to overcome hindrances that 
once seemed insuperable. 

It is evident that where the facts to be con- 
sidered, as in history, are beyond the range of the 
pupil's observation and experience, the lecture must 
have place in teaching; yet even here genuine teach- 
ing should precede and give meaning to the words of 
the lecture. Teaching should also lead the pupil to 
infer for himself general truths from the facts pre- 
sented by the lecturer and to apply those truths. 

Diffuse, illogical, and desultory utterances, how- 
ever suited to the hours of recreation, are out of 
place in the class or recitation hour. The presenta- 
tion of objects and aimless talk about them is the 



122 ENGLAND AND WALES 

modern farce that is but a burlesque of genuine 
object-teaching. This is yet the bane of our elemen- 
tary, as a similar treatment of subjects is of our higher 
schools. 

In the training-colleges of England model lessons 
are given at times by instructors in the normal col- 
lege. Some of these are prepared with consummate 
care, and with emendations from time to time are 
given to successive classes, though the greater number 
of object-lessons appear as parts of the regular course 
of instruction rather than as special illustrations of 
method. While visiting the Borough Road Training- 
College, I listened to an admirable model lesson given 
by the master of method. It was a lesson upon the 
geography of ^ew Zealand as compared with that of 
Great Britain, given in presence of a class of boys 
from an elementary school who had fairly mastered 
the geography of Great Britain, but were unac- 
quainted with that of New Zealand. The teaching 
was heuristic. The pupils were not told what they 
could infer from the maps, reliefs, specimens, and 
pictures used. Much was correctly inferred by the 
boys from facts of the geography of Great Britain, 
applicable to the geography of New Zealand. By 
vigorous apperceptions the pupils were led to so ex- 
tend their experience as to include a knowledge of 
New Zealand. 

Such model lessons in this college are called 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 123 

demonstration lessons. In a recent report the prin- 
cipal says: "In the public exercises the main pur- 
pose in the first year is to present the students with 
examples of carefully planned lessons in the different 
subjects of school work, schemed in accordance with 
the principles of class teaching laid down in the lec- 
tures. This part of the work in the first year is there- 
fore almost entirely confined to demonstration lessons 
by the master of method or his assistant. * How to 
do it ' is more useful at this stage than ^ how not to 
do it.' The students do not criticize, but describe 
the lessons in their notes, and they are expected to 
be able to suggest reasons for the procedure adopted." 
Another means of training students in the art of 
teaching is termed the criticism lesson. One of his 
Majesty's inspectors. Sir H. Oakley, one of the two 
gentlemen whose duty has been to inspect the train- 
ing-colleges of England and Wales, remarks in one 
of his recent reports : " As regards the technical 
work, I agree with Professor Laurie that the most im- 
portant agency in training the teacher, whether pri- 
mary or secondary, in the practise of his art as dis- 
tinct from the theory and history of education, is the 
criticism lesson. It has been a distinct improvement 
in the last few years that several members of the staff 
besides the teacher of method have been present at the 
criticism exercises, and have taken part in the discus- 
sion." He urges that a new feature should be added 



124: ENGLAND AND WALES 

to the buildings of training-colleges, viz., " a room so 
constructed as to enable the criticism lesson to be 
given with full effect." He says: " Its construction 
and arrangement should aim, as in a surgical oper- 
ating-room, to focus observation on the point of in- 
terest, and in such wise as to make everything plainly 
visible to the learners. ... In the majority of 
cases it is not possible to adapt the arrangements of 
the class room used for criticism lessons to serve that 
purpose efficiently.'' One or two colleges have rooms 
specially constructed for criticism lessons. 

The specific objects of the criticism lessons, as 
stated by the former principal of Borough Road Col- 
lege, are " to foster self-criticism through criticism of 
others, and for the purpose of preparing the students 
for their test lesson before his Majesty's inspectors." 
Much emphasis is placed upon the criticism lesson as 
a means of training in the art of teaching. In this 
college an attempt is made to have the lessons grouped 
under the different school subjects, though, judging 
from the lessons given to a class of children by a mem- 
ber of the senior class in the presence of the class and 
several members of the faculty, the subject-matter 
was hardly within range of the children's studies and 
too extensive to be grasped by them during the hour. 
The carefully and minutely prepared outline of the 
lesson had been submitted to some member of the 
faculty before the lesson was given. The neatness 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 125 

and precision of many of these outlines deserve much 
praise. The outline is an essential part of every 
criticism lesson and its value is a part of the record in 
determining the student's rank; it is an additional 
stimulus to prepare the lesson thoroughly. Some 
outlines that I reviewed were prepared with the in- 
spection of the theoretical professor of the college in 
mind rather than the mental condition of the class to 
be taught. The fact that several of the faculty, as 
earnestly advised in a recent report of one of his 
Majesty's inspectors of training-colleges, are present 
at the lesson tends to the same result. Thus the 
lesson may be more learned than wise. The presence 
of several members of the faculty also tends to re- 
strict the freedom of the one teaching, and to make 
his work accord with the opinions and knowledge of 
the faculty rather than the instincts and acquisitions 
of the children. The criticism lessons should hold 
a definite relation to the regular work in the elemen- 
tary school, and not be like the purple patches de- 
scribed by Horace in his Ars Poetica. It is fair 
that I should quote the statements of J. J. Find- 
lay respecting the lessons; he has been trained as 
a teacher in the professional school at Jena under 
Professor Rein. 

In an article in a late volume of Sadler's Special 
Reports, he says : " In English training-colleges the 

tests of practical efficiency take the form of show 
11 



126 ENGLAND AND WALES 

lessons, given very often before strange children on 
a special occasion. 

" The elaborate notes presented for this occasion 
are necessarily artificial, and instead of displaying, as 
they should, but can not, an acquaintance with the 
actual children to be taught, they have to be adorned 
with meretricious additions, displaying the teacher's 
familiarity with modern devices. In the delivery of 
the lesson the evil is still more apparent, for the can- 
didate is being judged by a false standard; it is her 
words and her style and her resources that are esti- 
mated rather than the process resulting in the chil- 
dren's minds." The force of these critical remarks 
is the more evident when contrasted with the mode 
pursued at Jena, which Mr. Findlay thus outlines: 
" At Jena the normal student has charge of a class 
room some weeks in a subject, and then in the order of 
the subject gives a criticism lesson. The other stu- 
dents and their teacher have acquainted themselves 
with lessons of the series previously given, so they are 
prepared to criticize by some knowledge of the ongo- 
ing of the class, including knowledge of the children. 
Those who are to observe and criticize are helped by 
reviewing the student-teacher's plans in his note-book. 
Criticism on his teaching exercise is delayed for 
at least twenty-four hours. In the meantime the 
student-teacher criticizes himself in a written critique, 
another student writes another criticism under the 



TEAINING-COLLEGES 127 

same heading, while a third notes questions and an- 
swers given in the exercise. Then all assemble, the 
writings are read and criticisms — written notes — 
discussed. Professor Rein acts as moderator and 
sums up." 

Some of the most satisfactory criticism lessons I 
observed were given in the Westminster Training- 
College for young men, in London. These lessons 
were evidently a part of the regular series of lessons 
given by members of the senior class to the classes in 
the practising school. The written outlines and the 
teaching were indeed prepared with more than the 
usual care and thoroughness, as the criticism lessons 
are regarded as very important tests of the students' 
ability and progress. All unnecessary nervous strain 
of the student teaching was avoided. The exercise 
was in the room of the practising school in which the 
student was accustomed to teach, the class was one 
with which he was acquainted, and only one of the 
faculty, the master of methods, the general supervisor 
of students' teaching, was present. While the class- 
mates of the one teaching were present to observe, to 
note, and to criticize, the spirit of the class was such, 
and the criticism lessons were so much a matter of 
course, that the lesson was taught with apparent ease 
and freedom. 

The lesson in geography comprised the county of 
Gloucestershire. A large wall-map of Great Britain 



128 ENGLAND AND WALES 

was near at hand. Other apparatus were a sand or 
clay model and, on a blackboard, a map corresponding 
to the model, drawn as directed by the children. 
When they could readily read the map and the model, 
the pupils were led to observe and to state the phys- 
ical features of the county. The towns in their rela- 
tions to the physical features and the employments 
of the inhabitants were then considered; then the 
climate, soil, and productions of the open country, 
and the railways and other means of transportation 
and communication were taught. 

A lesson by another student following a lesson 
upon ^' the adverb " was for the purpose of leading 
the pupils to review the preceding lesson by finding 
adverbs in given sentences, and then to group and 
classify them. The main business of the teacher 
seemed to be to direct the pupils in their study and 
lead them to state the results in fitting language. 
The multiplication of fractions was the subject of an- 
other lesson. By colored crayons diagrams were 
made upon the blackboard to illustrate the several 
steps as the processes were evolved. The lesson in 
reading showed the same careful and logical prepara- 
tion. In all the lessons the children were led by at- 
tending to the real objects of thought, or, where 
that was not possible, to a representation, to find out 
for themselves, and reach their own conclusions, by 
their own observation and thought. Each lesson 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 129 

closed with a " revision," not by calling for verbal 
statements, but by requiring original examples and 
applications. The teaching was in accord with sound 
principles, topics were arranged in proper order, the 
pupils gained the truth by their own effort, talking 
was not allowed to take the place of genuine teaching, 
and both teachers and pupils showed an excellent 
spirit. Following the lessons, the criticisms by the 
members of the class were freely and, for the most 
part, aptly given. At the Borough Road College the 
presence of several members of the faculty had 
seemed to lead the students to defer criticism to 
them. Here the criticism was mainly by members 
of the class. 

Some of the teachers of the practising schools 
connected with the training-colleges furnished some of 
the best examples of good teaching that I have seen 
whether in England or America. The practising 
school connected with Stockwell Training-CoUege is 
so highly valued that its pupils include a large number 
who came from other precincts than those of the 
school, and pay tuition to enjoy its privileges. The 
same is true of several other practising schools that I 
visited. I found the best teaching in those schools 
that prefer to have their students take high rank as 
skilful teachers rather than to subordinate profes- 
sional study and practise to the winning of degrees 
by university examinations. Each student before 



130 ENGLAND AND WALES 

graduation must give at least four satisfactory 
criticism lessons, pass successfully the written ex- 
aminations of his Majesty's inspectors, and give proof, 
in presence of an inspector, of ability to teach a class. 
As this test exercise in teaching usually occupies 
twenty minutes or more, considerable time of the in- 
spectors is occupied in test examinations and exer- 
cises. The diocesan committees in Anglican, and 
corresponding bodies in other denominational col- 
leges, examine the students as to their proficiency in 
religious and Scripture knowledge. All elementary 
schools receiving parliamentary grants are also ex- 
amined by his Majesty's inspectors, whether con- 
nected with training-colleges or not. They are also 
from time to time examined under the direction of 
their local managers. 

Though each college works under the prescribed 
code of the central authority, giving a large degree of 
uniformity, yet much distinctive work is done by 
several colleges, and there are wide differences of 
excellence. For instance, the master of methods of 
Wesleyan has made that college somewhat famous by 
his teaching of geography. An area extending in 
different directions several miles and presenting many 
typical facts of geology and geography is carefully 
studied by each class. One result is that geograph- 
ical terms and explanations have a meaning based 
upon actual knowledge of geographical objects. An- 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 131 

other result is that graduates who have been thus 
taught teach their pupils in a similar way, acquaint- 
ing them by their own observation with the basal facts 
of geography. 

The faculty of the Borough Road Training-Col- 
lege are doing much to broaden the course of study 
and to affiliate the college with London University. 
A late report states that " 100 men out of 134 were 
reading for London." 

Stockwell Training-CoUege and School for Young 
Ladies, in London, is one of the best training-colleges 
I was privileged to visit. Special prominence is given 
to professional training. Here I listened to teaching 
that in excellence I have seldom seen surpassed. The 
spirit of the school in every department leaves little 
to be desired. The practising school illustrates the 
best methods of control and of teaching. I subjoin an 
extract from a recent official report : 

" Great advantages are enjoyed by students of 
this college in the matter of professional training. 
The college practising schools are large, and com- 
prise an upper, senior, junior, and infant school de- 
partment, with an average attendance of more than 
600 scholars. . . . Two mistresses of method give 
a large portion of their time to the supervision of 
the practise, and the principal also takes part of the 
school management and criticism. The arrange- 
ments are as follows: 



132 ENGLAND AND WALES 

" The students of the first and second year are 
divided into six groups for practise in the schools. 
Each student enters in turn, for a week at a 
time, the girls', junior, and infant departments. The 
special courses of lessons are so arranged that not 
more than four students are teaching at any one time 
under the supervision of a college officer and the 
head mistress of the department. In addition, the 
whole of their work is carefully supervised and re- 
ported upon by each head mictress. In the senior 
school the head mistress has been helped by two of 
the assistant teachers, . . . who have periodically 
heard the special lessons given by students. By 
these means it has been possible to gain a more cor- 
rect estimate of the work done, and in the case of a 
weak student the critic has been able to render help 
of a more permanent nature. The students are as- 
sembled at the end of each week's practise for the pur- 
pose of hearing their week's work criticized, and of 
having returned to them corrected notes of lessons. 
A report of their work is sent in each week to the 
principal. Each student keeps a school diary in 
which to record what she has especially noticed with 
regard to observation and training. 

The third-year students have given special lessons 
in the senior school in geography, composition, and 
advanced dictation. The student of this year who is 
specializing in music is giving a course of singing 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 133 

lessons to classes from the different practising schools. 
Each junior student is present at least in one public 
technical exercise per week, and each senior student 
at two or more such exercises. ... In the case 
of senior students, discussions on educational topics 
have from time to time continued to take the place of 
criticism lessons." 

Stockwell College enrolled, according to the re- 
port of 1898, 150 residential and 16 day students, a 
number but slightly exceeded by two other colleges. 
The average attendance at a residential college is 
about 85, as they were reported in 1898. In 1900 
there were 4,085 in residential colleges. This in- 
cludes a small proportion of day scholars. The 
average attendance in day colleges — i. e., in the 
teachers' department of university colleges — was in 
1898 about 60, in 1901 about 75. 

There were in 1898 nearly 1,000 students in 
the day colleges. In 1900 there were 1,355 students. 
These find opportunities for practise in the board 
schools in the vicinity of the university colleges. 
Comparing these practising schools with many of the 
schools in which students of the residential training- 
colleges practise, an inspector speaks of the latter as 
" frequently furnished with old-fashioned rickety 
desks; they are often ill equipped with proper appa- 
ratus; are not seldom gloomy and dingy; and in many 
of them the methods of instruction are not such as 



134: ENGLAND AND WALES 

can benefit the student. . . . The students of the day 
training-colleges are better off. They go to large and 
always well-equipped and conducted board schools, 
and if in the direction of sound teaching there may 
be defects, there is the gain of seeing some good types 
of architecture, of good sanitary conditions, of new 
models of furniture, fitting decorations, and last, 
though not least, of school staffs organized on lines 
calculated to render the work as effective as possible. 
. . . There are in both classes of schools draw- 
backs and difficulties. ... In the case of the 
schools attached to the residential colleges, the first 
thing to do is to spend sufficient money upon them 
first, to put them in order and to equip them 
properly.'' 

The inspector then proceeds to notice the condi- 
tions that must prevail when students are sent away 
from the oversight of the faculty of the college to 
practise in outside schools. It is shown that though 
the head teachers of these schools are to supervise and 
report the work of the normal students, " it neverthe- 
less is true that this provision falls far short in the 
end ; for these teachers are not in possession of the 
principles and systems of the colleges, and are unable 
therefore to secure their observance. They have, 
besides, their own responsibilities to satisfy, and in 
the modern board school, organized on complex lines, 
their attention is constantly claimed and must be 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 135 

given in many directions at once. Then there may 
be, and not infrequently are, teachers whose training 
and long practise have rendered them comparatively 
unable to see and appreciate new and more modern 
systems of teaching." 

These remarks will apply with equal force to the 
apprenticeship of normal students in the public 
schools of the United States as practised in Worcester, 
in Boston, and in several other cities. The practical 
training of teachers in the art of teaching by those 
who know little or nothing of the instruction those 
teachers have received in principles and methods 
tends directly to nullify such instruction and to the 
adoption of those devices that are approved by the 
teachers under whom they work, whether those de- 
vices are right or wrong. It is the great misfortune 
of very many of the training-colleges of England 
that they lack adequate practising schools in organic 
and sympathetic connection with the normal college. 
Where a suitable practising school is found, as at the 
Wesleyan and Stockwell and St. MarFs and other 
colleges, the superior quality of the training is always 
evident. 'Nor is such a practising school valuable 
alone as a means of training the normal students in 
the art of teaching. A good practising school in vital 
union with a normal school or college reacts upon 
it and makes its teaching more philosophical, natural, 
and practical. 



136 ENGLAND AND WALES 

An optional third year is now available in many 
training-colleges for those who have completed the 
two years' course. ISTot many avail themselves of this 
advanced course. Some are attracted to it by the 
opportunity it affords to continue their studies pre- 
paratory to a university examination. 

A third year in foreign normal schools is provided 
for a few of those who have completed the regular 
two-years' course. In 1900, 44 were thus studying 
abroad. These students, while supplementing their 
professional training under able teachers, also study 
the working of the normal school they attend 
and of the schools of the city or district in which 
it is located. They have an excellent opportunity to 
perfect their knowledge of French or German, and to 
make a comparative study of English and foreign 
schools. Each student makes, once a month or at 
other intervals, a report, carefully penned in a blank 
book, of the results of his observations, comparisons, 
and thoughtful conclusions upon some special subject. 
These reports are the property of the training-college 
in England sending the student, and are very service- 
able to both instructors and students. They often 
suggest new and valuable improvements. One of 
these minute reports of the organization and working 
of a German normal school was the most satisfactory 
I have ever read upon that subject. Professional 
study on the Continent is not, however, limited to 



TKAINING-COLLEGES 137 

these favored few. Some of the more earnest and 
progressive young men and women who are not satis- 
fied with their professional acquisitions in English 
schools pursue courses of study at Jena, Zurich, or 
elsewhere. 

Of late, several students of pedagogy from Eng- 
land have spent considerable time in the normal and 
other schools of the United States. These students 
in other lands, upon their return to England, quicken 
the study of other teachers, lead them to adopt better 
methods of teaching, and deepen their appreciation of 
those excellences in which foreign are superior to 
English schools. The venerable Sir Joshua Fitch, 
whose lectures on teaching are in all our normal 
schools, in his writings and in his occasional ad- 
dresses often comments with warm approval upon the 
excellences he noted in our teachers and schools while 
visiting the United States. Ere long, I believe, a 
large number of English teachers will be found ob- 
serving the working of our schools. While the 
English teachers believe our schools to be most fer- 
tile in fads, they give us credit for inventive genius 
and practical skill, and allow that American teach- 
ers are the most progressive body of educators in 
the world. 

Among the evidences of the increasing culture 
of the training-colleges are the large " recreation 
rooms " or parlors fitted up for the students. In 



138 ENGLAND AND WALES 

cozy corners is the apparatus for various games. On 
the walls are hung choice engravings and paintings. 
In cabinets are curios attractively arranged, from his- 
toric places and from distant lands. Art and other 
books are gathered in charming cases, while the open 
fires give all an air of home. It augurs well that per- 
sons of culture are deeply interested in the work of 
these colleges. The late Duke of Westminster, re- 
puted by many the wealthiest and the most benevolent 
duke in England, and equally remarkable for his taste 
and for his refinement of manner, as those who have 
visited Eaton Hall will testify, was one of the man- 
agers of a training-college which I visited in London. 
By his presence, by his words, and by his gifts he 
cheered and encouraged the faculty and the students. 
He was a very regular visitor, and by his simple and 
most courteous manner made the most timid students 
at home in his company. The recreation room of 
another college was worth a journey because of the 
gifts of Euskin — the beautiful products of his own 
artistic hand. His Majesty's Inspector Oakley says: 
" I do not think that there was a single day or recre- 
ation room in 1886, and there is now scarcely a col- 
lege without one. Some of them are extremely well 
fitted up. ... It is not easy to overrate the 
value of a good recreation room both for the comfort 
and enjoyment of the students and for their general 
improvement." 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 139 

The Englisli attach much importance to physical 
development. They wisely claim that a strong, well- 
trained body is essential to mental vigor and endur- 
ance. Hence at the training-colleges, as at other 
schools, they aim to allow ample time for out-of-door 
sports. At the Borough Road Training-College the 
students are allowed the afternoon, as at the univer- 
sities. The Germans in their schools rely upon gym- 
nastic drill mainly, the English upon out-of-door 
sports, for physical development, though gymnastics 
are very generally used to some extent in the schools 
of England. 

Most students in the normal schools of America 
look forward to their chosen work and prepare for it 
with an enthusiasm born of the belief that it is second 
to no other in its opportunities to realize the noblest 
aspirations for a useful life. There are many things 
that tend to check the aspirations of one who would 
teach in an elementary school in England. Socially 
his rank is quite inferior to that of the teacher of an 
elementary school in the United States. He can not 
expect to be promoted from his position as an elemen- 
tary teacher to schools of higher grade. Others train 
the children of the upper classes who are expected to 
fill positions of influence and power. His pupils are 
expected to finish their school education at fourteen, 
and most of them, he is sure, will finish from one to 
three years earlier. The path to positions of honor 



140 ENGLAND AND WALES 

is, with rare exceptions, through the universities, and 
that path is open to very few, perhaps none, of his 
pupils. No system of free secondary schools makes 
it possible for them to go on to the college and the 
university. "Wales, however, has inaugurated a com- 
plete scheme of secondary schools with many scholar- 
ships for elementary schools, and other scholarships 
from the secondary schools to the university. Wales 
has opened an unbroken path from the elementary 
school to the university. 

The " little learning " the elementary teacher in- 
stils is still regarded by many of the upper classes as a 
" dangerous thing,'' making the rising generation of 
workmen restless and discontented in their servile 
toil. The scarcity of agricultural laborers and the 
decay of agriculture are frequently named among 
the results of the overschooling of the children of 
laborers. 

Teaching in the elementary schools seems to me to 
be regarded more as a trade, and less as a profession, 
in England than in the United States. 

Chief-Inspector Eankine says : " A profession 
which has no prizes and which demands at the very 
outset a vow of self-abnegation, a declaration that the 
trained teacher will devote himself to elementary edu- 
cation and to that alone, is not likely to attract the 
keener spirits in search of a career." This condition 
of things is quite in contrast to that which obtains in 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 141 

the United States, where, according to his success and 
ability, one may advance from elementary teaching 
through every grade. 

The two years which a Queen's scholar spends at 
a residential college are usually very pleasant years, 
and the more so because of the hard life most of them 
have had during their apprenticeship as pupil-teach- 
ers. Then a double work was imposed — continual 
examination by his Majesty's inspectors, including 
the final and somewhat competitive examination of 
the last year, by which they were to secure or fail in 
securing admission to the training-college, and daily 
preparation for teaching classes, in addition to the 
strain of controlling them. In the training-col- 
leges they are generally cared for in good rooms, 
provided with healthful food, and well supplied with 
means and opportunities for quiet study and read- 
ing, for gladsome rest and recreation — all fur- 
nished mainly, as we have seen, by parliamentary 
grants. 

The professional enthusiasm of teachers as well as 
the educational zeal of others is evident in the United 
States from the number and variety of the associa- 
tions formed to study and discuss the principles and 
methods of teaching, school management, the history 
of education, and the results of each other's expe- 
rience. It is evident from the large numbers that 

gather in educational meetings and the interest there 
12 



142 ENGLAND AND WALES 

shown in the discussion of educational questions. It 
is evident from the number and the thoughtful 
character of the books and periodicals published to 
aid teachers in their work, and in the large propor- 
tion of teachers that avail themselves of these publi- 
cations. It is evident in the articles pertaining to 
education that from time to time appear in the news- 
papers, reviews, and monthlies maintained for busi- 
ness and literary purposes. It is evident from the 
readiness of citizens to appropriate their money, in 
town meetings and in representative bodies, for 
schools, for libraries, for admirable school-buildings, 
for helpful apparatus, and for other educational pur- 
poses. It is evident from the unity of effort of teach- 
ers of different grades. College presidents and uni- 
versity professors are seen laying aside all thoughts 
of caste and of scholastic distinctions as in gather- 
ings of teachers they sit side by side with teachers of 
secondary and primary schools and kindergartners, 
listening to papers upon the teaching of elementary 
as well as of scientific subjects. In the discussions 
that follow, men and women entitled to regard be- 
cause of success in their several fields, whatever the 
grade of their schools, have equal recognition with 
learned university professors. If the professor is 
able to make the elementary teachers his debtors by 
his lucid exposition of the principles and philosophy 
of teaching, he in turn is often more than repaid by 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 143 

the skilful applications of his philosophy made pos- 
sible for him as he learns of the practical experience 
of the teachers of the primary schools. 

The distinctive object of associations of teachers 
in England does not appear to be the promotion of 
progress in the theory and art of teaching. The 
larger associations are rather for the purpose of in- 
creasing the influence of the teachers and for securing 
mutual assistance and protection. For instance, the 
Teachers' Guild, numbering some thousands, and 
having its central guild in London and its 20 or 
30 local branches in different parts of the United 
Kingdom, made up largely of those teaching grades 
above the elementary schools, is organized for the fol- 
lowing purposes: " To form a representative body of 
all grades of teachers whose utterances upon educa- 
tional matters shall be authoritative; to secure for 
teachers professional standing; to make some pro- 
vision for sickness and old age; and to do what else 
they may be able to promote their own and the public 
weal." The guild maintains a library, assists its 
members by registration, and in other ways, to obtain 
positions, and to secure reliable life-insurance and 
safe investments. It provides at times excellent lec- 
tures. Though the Teachers' Guild is intended for 
all grades of teachers, elementary teachers feel more 
at home in their own association — the National Union. 
The deplorable gulf that still so largely separates 



144 ENGLAND AND WALES 

elementary and secondary teachers is not bridged by 
this guild nor by any other association. 

The College of Preceptors is an organization of 
long standing in London, which, though now mainly 
an authoritative examining body, contributes to the 
social well-being and professional progress of teachers 
by the excellent courses of lectures and of class in- 
struction which at times it furnishes. 

The local associations for child study, in London 
and in other places, are giving new impetus to pro- 
fessional study. 

When we read the writings of Sully, Thring, 
Thomas and Matthew Arnold, Fitch, and many others, 
we can but acknowledge that among the teachers of 
England remarkable examples of scholarship, prac- 
tical ability, and professional enthusiasm are not 
wanting. The universities and higher schools at- 
tract men and women of large ability to the ranks 
of teachers. The enthusiasm of such men has done 
much to kindle the enthusiasm of others; but in gen- 
eral the teachers of the elementary schools of Eng- 
land seemed to me behind those of the United States 
in scholarly attainments and in educational zeal. Yet 
it must be granted that the local managers and his 
Majesty's inspectors, by frequent and thorough ex- 
aminations, testing the quality of the work done 
and by persistent endeavor, secure in the elementary 
schools the primary elements of culture and of char- 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 145 

acter. A patient, plodding thorougliness steadily 
maintained throughout the schools of a whole people 
by the encouragement and the vigilance of a strong 
and intelligent body of national inspectors deserves 
much praise. 

The uniformity of standard secured by the code, 
annually issued from the Education Department at 
Whitehall, does not allow of the same liberty in 
adapting courses of study to local needs as is enjoyed 
in the schools of the United States, though the im- 
proved methods of inspection give the English 
teacher much more liberty than was possible under 
the method of inspection by individual examinations. 
The inventive genius of teachers has less opportunity 
in England than in the United States. 'New methods 
and original experiments are not as often presented. 
Yet the progress that has been gained is stoutly con- 
served until it is clearly evident that a new step for- 
ward should be taken. 

The N^ational Union of Teachers numbers some 
forty thousand elementary teachers. A few broad- 
minded teachers of higher grade are also enrolled who 
refuse to recognize caste in the great work of educa- 
tion. This is by far the largest teachers' association 
in the realm. Its influence is felt in Parliament. In 
many of its features this association is not unlike the 
trades-unions that those engaged in other employ- 
ments maintain to secure their rights and to promote 



14G ENGLAND AND WALES 

their interests. The elementary teachers, being the 
lowest in the social rank, naturally chafe against the 
barriers which caste and the indifference of the upper 
classes interpose. 

This association for years has managed to keep in 
the House of Commons two members, one of each 
party, to champion its views and push its plans. 
These representatives have recently been strongly 
reenforced by the election of Dr. Macnamara, the 
accomplished educational writer and speaker. This 
association is a quasi-political body, if one may judge 
from the proceedings of its annual meeting in Cam- 
bridge, which I attended. Representatives of local 
associations from all parts of England and Wales 
and Ireland were present. Many of the questions 
discussed were suggestive of a political conference, 
and the manner of discussion was not adapted to dis- 
pel the illusion. In securing parliamentary action, 
the association is doubtless of eminent service. It 
is destined in the future to accomplish more than in 
the past. One of its latest important achievements 
was the furtherance of the Superannuation Bill, which 
was enacted in 1898. This act provides for the pay- 
ment of pensions to elementary teachers, from a fund 
obtained by assessment of teachers and by proportion- 
ate sums drawn from the national treasury. The 
protective and political aims of this association are 
very unlike the professional aims of teachers' associa- 



TRAINING-COLLEGES 147 

tions in tlie United States. Hence the latter must be 
expected to lead in the evolution of the principles and 
the methods, the organization and the administration 
of elementary schools. The collective influence of 
teachers, however, is a potent factor in the legislative 
bodies of the several States, the more because the 
legislation urged by teachers, from time to time, is 
not to protect themselves and promote their own per- 
sonal interests, but to secure the weKare of the 
schools. This end is not disclaimed in the I^ational 
Union of Teachers, but it is somewhat obscured. 



CHAPTEK TV 

CONCLUSIONS 

School-Buildings. — The buildings of the volun- 
tary schools, which house about one-half of the school- 
children, are for the most part old and quite inferior 
to the modern school-buildings erected by school 
boards. It is not easy to raise money by subscription 
for rebuilding, and the English venerate the old. 
]^ot long ago a member of Parliament said that in 
many voluntary schools children were kept in rooms 
that he would not kennel his dogs in. Yet near- 
sightedness and school diseases do not furnish evi- 
dence of such poorly lighted and ill-ventilated build- 
ings as still disgrace many German schools. The 
endowed secondary schools during late years have 
erected many admirable buildings. The newer school- 
buildings of board schools in London and in other 
large towns, where the increase of population fre- 
quently demands additional accommodations, are sub- 
stantial, well-lighted, and comely. At the central 
oflSce of the London schools I was directed to some of 
the latest school-buildings, which the architect con- 
siders the best in plan and execution. I visited one 
148 



CONCLUSIONS 149 

that would accommodate about a thousand children. 
It was of brick, and three stories high. The first 
story was occupied by infant schools — pupils three to 
seven years of age — the second by girls, and the third 
by boys in standards or grades above the infant 
schools. The class rooms on each floor were entered 
from a large central room or hall. This was used for 
general exercises. The morning Scripture readings 
and prayers are held in these halls, the pupils filing in 
from their several rooms immediately after the record 
of attendance is taken, and standing during the ex- 
ercise. This central hall, in some schools, is beauti- 
fully decorated with engravings given by patrons or 
purchased by the proceeds of special entertainments 
furnished by pupils and their friends. Many of the 
older school-buildings are adding these commodious 
halls. The increase of school games is rendering 
them a necessity. In the class rooms the pupils were 
seated in double desks, on platforms each four or five 
inches above the one in front of it. Seated on these 
galleries, as they are called, no pupil is hindered by 
those in front from seeing all that is presented by the 
teacher. 

The building rules of the State Education Depart- 
ment may be outlined as follows : The ceilings of the 
schoolroom must be at least 12 feet high. If there 
are more than 360 square feet on the floor, the ceiling 
must be not less than 13 feet above the floor, if more 



150 ENGLAND AND WALES 

than 600 square feet, 14 feet above. Roofs, as far 
as may be, are to be rendered impervious to cold and 
heat. At least 10 square feet of floor is allowed to 
each pupil. External walls are to be of brick or 
stone. The vegetable soil on the building area is to 
be removed and the surface covered with concrete not 
less than 6 inches in thickness. The entrances for 
boys and girls must be separate. The doors of the 
entrances and main rooms must open outward and 
inward. Staircases must be external to schoolrooms 
and fire-proof; flights must be short and landings un- 
broken by steps. Winding flights or triangular steps 
are not allowed. Windows are to be arranged so as 
to admit light on the left of the pupil, but no school- 
room lighted from one side only can be approved. 
The window-sills are to be 4 feet from the floor, 
and the windows are to extend to the top of the room. 
Though all of the older schoolrooms are arranged to 
be heated by grates, steam and hot water are employed 
in the larger buildings. The newer buildings are 
heated in a similar way, though less reliance is placed 
upon grates. In some buildings I noticed very thick 
pipes with small bore filled with superheated water. 
A temperature from 56° to 60° F. is required in 
schoolrooms, 10 degrees lower than that to which 
American children are accustomed. The buildings 
are generally ventilated by opening windows, a mode 
that can be more safely used in the climate of Eng- 



CONCLUSIONS 151 

land tlian in tliat of New England, as the tempera- 
ture does not fall as low in winter in England. Tlie 
English believe in the healthfulness of the open air. 
Grates are valued in all buildings as means of ven- 
tilation, and are very generally used. Under the 
head of " Ventilation " the department issued the fol- 
lowing directions in the code of 1899 : 

" Apart from open windows and doors, there 
should be provision for copious inlet of fresh air; also 
for outlet of foul air at the highest point of the room; 
the best way of providing the latter is to build to 
each room a separate air-chimney carried up in the 
same stack with smoke-flues. An outlet should have 
motive power by heat or exhaust, otherwise it will 
frequently act as a cold inlet. The principal point 
in all ventilation is to prevent stagnant air. Particu- 
lar expedients are only subsidiary to this main direc- 
tion. Inlets are best placed in corners of rooms 
farthest from doors and fireplaces, and should be ar- 
ranged to discharge upward into the rooms. Inlets 
should provide a minimum of 2i square inches per 
child, and outlets a minimum of 2 inches. All inlets 
and outlets should be in communication with the ex- 
ternal air. Rooms should, in addition, be flushed 
with fresh air from windows about every two hours. 
A sunny aspect is especially valuable for children, 
and important in its effects on ventilation and 
health." 



152 ENGLAND AND WALES 

In the matter of school furniture my impression is 
that the English schools are inferior to ours. Though 
desks 12 and 9 feet long are giving place to dual 
desks, school authorities do not generally seem to be 
aware of the superiority of the single desk. 

EXTRACTS FROM THE CODE OF 1899 

Curriculum of the elementary schools as required 
hy the Education Department and approved hy Par- 
liament. (Abridged from the code of 1899.) 

Obligatory subjects: 
Eeading \ 

Writing I called "The Elementary Subjects." 
Arithmetic J 
JSTeedlework (for girls). 
Drawing (for boys in schools for older scholars). 

One of the " Class Subjects " named below, which 
must be taught by means of object-lessons in Stand- 
ards I, II, and III. 

Optional subjects: 

I. Tahen hy classes throughout the school^ and 
designated " Class Subjects.^' 

Singing. 

Recitation. 

Drawing (for girls and older children and for boys 
in infant schools and classes). 



CONCLUSIONS 153 

English, or Welsh (in Wales), or Erench (in the 

Channel Islands). 
Geography. 
Elementary science. 
History. 

Suitable occupations (for Standards I, II, and III). 
E'eedlework (for girls), optional as a Class 

Subject. 
Domestic economy (for girls). 

II. Taken hy individual cJiildren in the upper 
classes of the school, and designated " Specific Suh- 
jectsJ^ 

Algebra. 

Euclid. 

Mensuration. 

Mechanics. 

Chemistry. 

Physics. 

Elementary physics and chemistry. 

Animal physiology. 

Hygiene. 

Botany. 

Principles of agriculture. 

Horticulture. 

!N'avigation. 

Latin. 

Erench. 



154 ENGLAND AND WALES 

Welsh (for scholars in schools in Wales). 

German. 

Bookkeeping. 

Shorthand, according to some system recognized 

by the department. 
Domestic economy (for girls). 
Domestic science. 



III. Cookery, 

Laundry work ) ^ . , 

•^ V lor girls. 

Dairy work j 

Cottage gardening 

Manual instruction 



!■ for boys. 



Any subject other than those mentioned above, 
if sanctioned by the department, may be taken as a 
specific subject, provided that a graduated scheme for 
teaching it be submitted to, and approved by, the in- 
spector. 

The schedules of the evening continuation school 
code may be found useful for suggestions. 

Instruction may be given in other secular subjects 
approved by the department, and in religious subjects. 

ISTo more than two class subjects may be taken 
by any class, and the same number must be taken 
throughout the school; except that where needlework 
is taken by the girls as a class subject a correspond- 
ing subject need not be taken by the boys. 

The subjects taken may be different for different 



CONCLUSIONS 155' 

classes, but in each class, if two subjects are taken, 
one of the subjects must be taken as the first, and the 
other as the second, class subject. 

It is evident that under the limitations of the 
prescribed curriculum, large option is given to local 
managers in the choice of class subjects. This allows 
managers, in their several communities, to adapt the 
curriculum in some degree to the immediate needs of 
the children, or to stint them in accord with the views 
of penurious ratepayers. The obligatory subjects of 
the code are not on an adequate basis for a course of 
secondary instruction. Whenever a national system 
of secondary schools shall be established it will be 
found necessary to so broaden and define the obliga- 
tory studies of the elementary course that all pupils 
completing it will be ready to pursue the secondary 
course. Such a course can but tend largely to the im- 
provement of the elementary schools. 

Methods of Teaching. — "While the methods of 
teaching in some of the practising schools connected 
with the training-colleges are excellent, many of 
the elementary schools follow antiquated methods. 
Rapid improvement during the last decade is evident 
in many localities, especially in the board schools of 
the newer cities, such as those of Leeds, Birmingham, 
and Manchester. In most schools that I visited I 
noticed the lack of those appliances for the facile use 
of maps and other apparatus which are so common in 



156 ENGLAND AND WALES 

the United States. Elementary physics and chemis- 
try are taught objectively by the lecture method, suit- 
able experiments being performed in presence of the 
class; but the means of teaching other departments 
of natural science are scanty. School authorities of 
late show a preference for the teaching of physics, and 
are making better provision for its teaching than for 
teaching chemistry. In nature study, whether of 
minerals, plants, or animals, our schools are clearly 
in advance of those of England. Intelligent leaders 
in the Education Department present in the annual 
code plans for nature and other objective study, and 
his Majesty's inspectors do much to encourage it ; but 
on the part of teachers there seems to be an endeavor 
to satisfy the requirements of the code rather than 
that generous rivalry that is ever leading our teachers 
to develop better methods and to improve the cur- 
riculum. 

Blackboards on easels or in frames are generally 
used by the teachers for demonstration and for illus- 
tration ; but there is no such abundance of wall black- 
boards as with us. One enthusiastic teacher who had 
managed to increase his wall blackboards said to me : 
'^ These boards I had put up after my recent visit to 
America; I there saw such boards and learned their 
use." In none of the schools I visited did I see a 
class recitation in arithmetic, geography, or in any 
other study, conducted with the whole class at the 



CONCLUSIONS 157 

boards. Some may claim that there is more thought 
in the absence of blackboards, but this is unproved, 
for when recitations are from slates and papers the 
pupil often merely reads what he has prepared or re- 
peats what he has memorized. If a class uses the 
board in recitation, all can advance together, the 
teacher can notice the steps taken by each pupil, and 
better test the rapidity and the correctness of each 
and the methods employed. 

By one method of teaching the teacher presents 
to the pupil the general statement to be memorized, 
tests his understanding of it, explains it, and gives or 
requires illustrations of it and specific applications. 
This is the method that lends itself readily to the 
lecturer and has long prevailed in the older univer- 
sities. So far as I may infer from what I observed 
in the schools of England, lessons in natural science 
are generally taught objectively by lectures. A 
paper upon the heuristic method of teaching in one 
of the recent volumes of Sadler's Reports, speaks of 
the heuristic method as a recent invention, showing 
that it is not yet in common use. But, as I have be- 
fore said, I saw admirable use of it in some of the 
training-colleges. 

His Majesty's chief inspectors and many of their 

subordinates are graduates of a university. Until 

1882 high honors gained at a university rendered one 

eligible to the office of inspector without any practi- 
13 



158 ENGLAND AND WALES 

cal knowledge of elementary schools, l^ow, special 
qualifications are considered, yet the methods by which 
inspectors have themselves been taught in the univer- 
sities are quite apt to be regarded by them with 
favor. Improved methods do not as readily find 
place in the English schools as in ours. Though par- 
liamentary grants are now apportioned mainly ac- 
cording to the average attendance and general effi- 
ciency of schools, yet pupils and teachers have been 
so accustomed to work for results in examinations 
that much of the school study is narrowed to gain this 
end. Again, positions in the civil service and in other 
lines of employment are so often reached through 
examinations that cramming for examinations is not 
to be avoided in elementary schools. " Eeading for 
examination " is largely the business of students in 
the secondary schools and in the universities. The 
prominence given to examinations tends to secure a 
certain kind of verbal thoroughness. The course of 
instruction in the elementary schools is less liberal 
than in ours. Yet are not we ready to admit that our 
schools attempt more than they can well perform, 
and that we have something to learn from the more 
uniform and exact procedure of the English schools? 
Applied Psychology. — All the schools in Germany 
for the professional training of teachers give much 
prominence to the teaching of psychology, and they 
apply it in the selection and sequence of studies and 



CONCLUSIONS 159 

in their metliods of teaching. In applied psychology 
we must confess inferiority to the Germans, but we 
are not so subject to custom and tradition as the Eng- 
lish, and are never quite happy in our school work 
unless we can give psychological reasons for our 
modes of procedure. 

The proper work of the lower grades in a primary 
school is to gain definite sensations and perceptions 
through the several senses and language to express 
what is thus gained. This work is often included 
under " language lessons," and is accomplished by 
lessons upon objects occasioning ideas of form, color, 
number, odor, sound, etc. In this way the child is 
prepared for the study of distinct subjects in higher 
grades. Professor Hanus, of Harvard University, 
says : " The special aims of elementary education are : 
(a) to nourish the mind of the child through the course 
of study which should comprise an orderly presenta- 
tion of the whole field of knowledge in its elements, 
and to provide the opportunity for the exercise of all 
his powers, mental, moral, esthetic, manual, construc- 
tive, through good instruction and wise discipline; 
(h) to guard and promote his normal physical devel- 
opment. 

" In the earlier stages of this period there are not, 
of course, distinct subjects at all; there is simply the 
diversified field of closely correlated knowledge; and 
because everything is interesting and equally yields 



160 ENGLAND AND WALES 

incentive to activity, it is difficult, with possibly one 
exception, to think of different educational values for 
the different forms of activity. The one exception is 
the mother tongue. This is the instrument of all the 
pupil's acquisitions and of common intercourse with 
his fellows. Moreover, it is the embodiment of rich 
stores of information and of the highest ideals of the 
race.'' 

The work of the primary school is continued in the 
secondary school; but this is distinguished from the 
primary in that the pupil is here ready for the more 
definite development of his reflective powers. He is 
able to analyze the concrete groups of which he gained 
knowledge in the primary schools and make scientific 
classifications. For instance, he is able to analyze 
language and reach the general truths of grammar. 
In other words, he is able to pass from empirical to 
scientific truth. This is continued in the college or 
university. In the technological school the student 
pursues studies preparatory to some employment and 
receives specific training in it. 

The study of psychology is as essential to the 
teacher as the study of physiology to the physician. 
One has to do with the mind, the other with the body. 
Each must acquaint himself with that upon which he 
is to expend his efforts. Besides the professional 
knowledge gained by the study of psychology, it tends 
to make the teacher look beyond the words and out- 



CONCLUSIONS 161 

ward actions of pupils to their minds and trace the 
individual sources of their conduct. It also leads the 
teacher to regard the several studies of the school not 
as ends, but as means of mental development. ITo 
book quotations will suffice for the teacher's knowl- 
edge of psychology. He should come to the truths 
of psychology by thoughtful introspection and by in- 
ference from the observed acts of children and of 
others, and his general knowledge of the subject 
should be constantly supplemented by the study of 
individual pupils. 

Supply of Teachers. — Among the reasons why 
the elementary schools are not adequately supplied 
with good teachers are : 

1. I^either the salaries paid nor the social posi- 
tion of an elementary teacher are such as to attract a 
man or woman of any considerable acquisition and 
culture. 

2. The training-colleges may be expected to fur- 
nish the most progressive teachers; but there are not 
enough of these training-schools to supply candidates 
for all vacancies as they occur in the ranks of elemen- 
tary teachers. The day colleges or training-classes 
established recently in connection with university col- 
leges are attempting to increase the supply, but 
hitherto they have not enrolled a sufficient number 
of students, nor can students in day colleges expect to 
be as thoroughly drilled in practical teaching as the 



162 ENGLAND AND WALES 

students of residential colleges that include a well- 
organized practising school. 

Chief -Inspector Kankine, in his report for 1900 
on the training-colleges, sajs: 

" From 1841 our training-college system quietly 
developed on the old lines till 1890, when a new ele- 
ment was introduced in the shape of day training-col- 
leges. Of these there are at present 16. They are 
all connected with university colleges. It was a step 
in the direction of bringing elementary education into 
organic coherence with the general intellectual life of 
the country. They have been eminently successful, 
but have their difficulties. . . . The day colleges 
have special difficulties of their own. The task of 
pursuing technical studies and at the same time pre- 
paring for a degree involves a strain, and the one or 
the other branch of study is apt to suffer. Their 
course of training is in most cases for two years only, 
while a university degree requires at least three. The 
result of this is that many complete their degree while 
serving in schools — much to their credit, but against 
their health. The universities are in a dilemma; if 
they take in candidates of higher attainments who 
have had no experience of school work, special ar- 
rangements have to be made for instruction in prac- 
tical teaching; if they take in those who have lower 
attainments but have been pupil-teachers, the diffi- 
culty arises how to make much of them in purely 



CONCLUSIONS 163 

university classes. . . . The day colleges whicli I 
have inspected seem to me as efficient as is possible 
in the circumstances. Possibly the circumstances 
might be more favorable. They all suffer from the 
rawness of the material which they have to work up 
and the lack of funds." 

3. Those who enter training-colleges have, for the 
most part, been fitted in the narrowing routine of a 
pupil-teacher's course, without the liberalizing culture 
of a good secondary course of instruction. 

4. Large opportunity is given under Article 
LXYIII of the code to those who have .not made 
special preparation for teaching to enter the profes- 
sion. " In mixed and girls' schools, and in infant 
schools and classes, a woman over eighteen years of 
age, approved by the inspector, who is employed dur- 
ing the whole of the school hours in the general in- 
struction of the scholars and in teaching needlework, 
is recognized as an additional teacher." 

In boys' schools, with the special approval of the 
department, a woman over eighteen years of age who 
is employed during the whole of the school hours in 
the instruction of scholars in Standard I, II, or III — 
i. e., the three grades next above the infant school — is 
recognized as an " additional teacher." Such " ad- 
ditional teachers," upon passing the examination re- 
quired to enter a training-college and taking rank in 
the first class of candidates, upon the recommenda- 



164 ENGLAND AND WALES 

tion of an inspector as teachers of practical skill, may 
be recognized as provisionally certificated teachers. 
Then, after having been employed two years, such 
teachers may pass another examination, and after an- 
other year's teaching a second examination, and then 
receive the full teacher's certificate. Successfully 
passing such a set of examinations implies progress at 
least in knowledge while teaching; but such progress 
can not be equivalent to a full course of professional 
training; it is " climbing up some other way." 

All who would have the elementary schools im- 
prove deplore the fact that under Article LXYIII of 
the code so large a number of women " over eighteen 
years of age " without any professional training what- 
ever should be admitted to the ranks of teachers. 

In his report on training-colleges for 1900, Chiefs 
Inspector Eankine observes : " A striking feature in 
the development of our educational system is the in- 
crease of teachers under Article LXYIII of the code. 
These are untrained teachers. The only require- 
ments in this case are that they should be women over 
eighteen, approved by an inspector. At first sight it 
looks like a recrudescence of the monitorial system. 
That it is closely connected with the large employ- 
ment of acting teachers seems probable. For the 
teacher who is not capable of taking charge of pupil- 
teachers is recognized as fully qualified to superintend 
these able-bodied monitors. Yery few of them are 



CONCLUSIONS 165 

drawn into our training-colleges. They are too old 
as a rule and have not the intellectual alertness 
to master new and difficult subjects." 

The whole number of teachers of elementary- 
schools reported for England and Wales in 1900 was 
139,818. Of these, 30,783 were pupil-teachers, 30,- 
233 assistants, and 16,717 additional assistants under 
Article LXYIII, giving a total of 77,733 uncertifi- 
cated teachers. There were 62,085 certificated teach- 
ers, but of these only 36,020 had passed through train- 
ing-colleges — only about one-fourth of the whole 
number of total teachers. About seven-eighths of 
the teachers in the elementary schools of France have 
taken the regular course in the state schools for the 
profession of teachers. 

5. The employment of pupil-teachers instead of 
adult teachers. From 1876 to 1894 the average re- 
duction of the pupil-teachers was only 11 per cent. 
The attempt to secure a decided reduction by the 
adoption of an article in the code for 1899 was de- 
feated in Parliament, largely by the influence of the 
Anglican clergy, who felt compelled by lack of funds 
to employ in their voluntary schools a large propor- 
tion of pupil-teachers. This is especially true in rural 
schools. The board schools of London and other 
large towns employ comparatively few pupil-teachers. 

One of his Majesty's chief inspectors remarks: 
" In a great many of our best schools the pupil-teacher 



166 ENGLAND AND WALES 

is a supernumerary as regards the minimum staff re- 
quired by tlie code, and serves under a head master, 
who is not tied down to a class, but has both the abil- 
ity and time to guide and criticize bis pupil. In too 
many cases, however, these conditions of good train- 
ing are absent. The school in which these young 
people are apprenticed is sometimes itself far from a 
model, the head teacher has to do his own work and 
that of an assistant, and they, themselves, are ab- 
sorbed by the class which is entrusted to them. And 
the worse the conditions, usually, the more numerous 
the pupil-teachers, because they are considered to be 
cheap. Habits are then acquired which the sys- 
tematic and scientific training in college fails to eradi- 
cate. They may learn the better methods, but the 
old tricks remain. Considerations of this sort are all 
the more serious because so many of them become as- 
sistants and afterward certificated teachers, without 
ever having had any scientific training at all." 

Some provision for a more cultured class of 
teachers has recently been attempted by the code of 
1899, by which persons who have passed certain uni- 
versity or equivalent examinations are admitted to 
training-colleges. Sixty were so admitted in 1900. 
This class of students in the training-colleges is ex- 
pected to increase from year to year. While these 
are inferior to those who have served years as pupil- 
teachers, in managing classes and in combining teach- 



CONCLUSIONS 167 

ing and class control, it is said that " they have not 
acquired fixed habits of educational practise which 
prejudice them against new ideas. They have greater 
mental flexibility. They possess a keener apprecia- 
tion of the principles of method. They follow the 
lectures with more interest, and they seek to apply 
what they have learned." They are not slow in gain- 
ing facility in class management. 

Permanence of Teachers. — The lack of perma- 
nence of teachers is a source of weakness in our 
schools. Teachers are aided in making changes by 
agencies that profit by transfers. Yet it must be 
granted that these agencies are very helpful in select- 
ing and placing teachers. The uncertain action of 
school committees, who often elect teachers for other 
reasons than their fitness to care for schools, tends 
to drive to other employments men of ability who de- 
sire to maintain permanent homes. In England, 
while the local managers contract with the teachers, 
the examinations and the inspections by which candi- 
dates are admitted to the ranks of teachers and by 
which they pass the several degrees of preferment, 
are made by the central authority. Thus the teach- 
ers receive the sanction and the support of the state, 
as ours do not. The policy of permanence in civil 
ofiice in England also tends strongly to promote the 
permanence of teachers. The difiiculty of excusing 
from service teachers who have outlived their useful- 



168 ENGLAND AND WALES 

ness is not easily overcome. The Superannuation 
Bill of 1898, retiring upon pension teachers at the age 
of sixty-five, unless retained by special action of the 
department, is expected to remedy this difficulty in 
part. While in English schools there is not the same 
preponderance of male teachers as in German schools, 
there is a larger proportion than in our schools, 
and the female teachers do not as readily pass by mar- 
riage from the school to a home of their own. The 
average time that teachers in America are retained 
in one school is probably less than three years. In 
some parts of our country the average tenure for men 
is not over three years, though in our cities, especially 
the older, there is a much higher average, many teach- 
ing in the same school the greater part of a lifetime. 
The tenure of the teacher's office must be much 
longer in England than in the United States, though 
I have seen no reliable statistics in proof. 

Text-Books. — School text-books are not as abun- 
dant or varied as with us. The uniformity of 
the curriculum of the elementary school, as deter- 
mined by the annual code of the department, tends 
to secure uniformity of text-books; but the depart- 
ment does not recommend or authorize the use of any 
set of books. This is left to the local managers. The 
text-books that I noticed in the schoolrooms were less 
attractive than ours in type and execution. The 
variety of text-books published in our country, where 



CONCLUSIONS 169 

eacli city and town by its committee can fix its curric- 
ulum and select its school-books, entails more expense 
upon those who purchase, but the rivalry of publishers 
spares no pains to provide serviceable and attractive 
books. Their variety stimulates teachers to study 
the subject they teach in different lights. In the 
schools of London I learned that school-books, appa- 
ratus, and stationery are provided from the school 
funds. Pianos are furnished in many schools to assist 
music drill. In every permanent school there are 
lending libraries. If they are small, they are made 
up of books carefully selected. The enterprise and 
the liberality of Birmingham and of other large 
centers in providing for schools are fully equal, and 
in many cases superior, to that of London. 

English Literature. — No other language equals 
the English language in the value of the literature it 
contains. As the elementary schools are now eman- 
cipated from " earning grants " by passing individual 
examinations in the " three R's," we may reasonably 
expect that English literature in the years to come 
will be recognized in the elementary school as a means 
of culture, as it has not been recognized hitherto. 

In the use made of the literature of the Bible, by 
memorizing selections, by daily readings and study, 
and by learning definite outlines of Scripture biog- 
raphy, especially the life of Christ, English schools 
are far in advance of ours. The views of Matthew 



170 ENGLAND AND WALES 

Arnold which we have in part quoted in the chapter 
on The Keligious Question, and which are generally 
approved by the thoughtful educators of England, 
should be pondered by all who prize literature as a 
means of culture. 

History and Geography. — England is rich in his- 
torical landmarks, in monuments, and in other memo- 
rials of the illustrious dead. The national pride of 
England is proverbial. History and geography are so 
taught that children can not fail to be impressed with 
the greatness of the British Empire. Little time com- 
paratively is devoted to the geography of lands not 
included in the empire, and it is not strange if school- 
children come to think that such geography and his- 
tory are of little value. In all the schools, however, by 
means of these studies is nourished that national spirit 
which, though sometimes giving rise to ludicrous self- 
satisfaction and a lack of appreciation of what other 
nations have accomplished, is the source of genuine 
patriotism, ever ready to find expression in the service 
of the country, whether on the land or on the sea. 
Personal interests may clash, different classes may 
contend with each other for their rights, political par- 
ties may strive for the mastery, but these contentions 
are never allowed to weaken their patriotism, nor to 
make them less valiant in promoting what they deem 
to be in accord with the public weal. Yet an educa- 
tional expert, with abundant opportunities to form a 



CONCLUSIONS 171 

correct judgment, asserts that history is more poorly 
taught than any other subject. While history should 
be so taught as to cherish a national self-respect and 
to nurture an abiding patriotism, it should also be 
taught so as to broaden the view, enlarge the sympa- 
thies, and lead to an appreciation of the excellence of 
nations other than one's own. Elementary history 
should furnish the germs of liberal culture. The ele- 
mentary schools of England were founded to furnish 
a moiety of instruction to the children of those en- 
gaged in manual labor, and are still somewhat ham- 
pered by narrow traditions. 

Coeducation. — In London and in other large 
centers, the tendency seems to be, in grades above the 
infant schools (three to seven years of age), to teach 
boys and girls in separate schools, though each may be 
in the same building. In many parts of London, 
however, and in small communities, boys and girls are 
taught together. I^ot far from Hampstead Heath, I 
visited a school containing about 2,000 pupils which 
has ever been coeducational. The school seemed to 
be made up mainly of children of the middle class. 
The school was evidently established when the locality 
was more suburban than now and land was more 
easily obtained. The site included nearly two acres ; 
the buildings, unlike all others I visited, were, with 
the exception of an art room for pupils of higher 
grades, but one story high. They seemed to have 



172 ENGLAND AND WALES 

been adapted to the increasing numbers by successive 
projections, or wings, making access easy and giving 
an abundance of window space, a feature very de- 
sirable in the gray, hazy atmosphere of London. In 
reply to my questions, the principal said that during 
the twenty years or more of his service in the school 
he had known of no serious evil arising from co- 
education. Almost the only annoyance in the man- 
agement that had occurred was owing to the lack of 
tact in the control of boys on the part of women on 
the staff who had never in their homes nor in schools 
been accustomed to boys. He very decidedly ap- 
proved of coeducation because of its wholesome 
effects both upon boys and upon girls, making each 
better in manners and more amenable to moral cul- 
ture. 

Relations of Teachers and Pupils. — The crowning 
excellence of a teacher is not acquisition nor peda- 
gogical skill, but a personality effective in influencing 
for good. What a teacher is in heart and in life is 
most effective in determining the pupil's thought, feel- 
ing, and purpose. Any one who during his formative 
years has felt the impress of an Arnold will testify 
to the value of personal influence. Is it not the 
object of the process we call education to bring pupil 
and teacher into such relations that the cultured 
spirit, the highest aims, and the finest enthusiasm of 
the teacher shall be shared by the pupil? The rela- 



CONCLUSIONS 173 

tions of pupil and teacher in English schools, so far as 
I observed, are excellent. Teachers often supervise 
and take part in school games, and seem interested in 
the all-around development of those in their charge. 
While the disposition of the pupils to render prompt 
obedience is more evident in English than in our 
schools, there is no " dignified distance " separating 
pupils and teachers and hindering the interaction of 
minds. The English teacher seemed to me to suc- 
ceed in developing the self-reliance of the pupils. 
The military spirit, which apparently dominates the 
relations of pupils and teachers in German schools, 
does not obtain in English schools. Germans who 
visit English schools have often said that they would 
like to transfer to German schools the force and the 
enthusiasm of the English student in out-of-door 
sports, his self-reliance, and the relations of the teach- 
ers and pupils. The parental attitude of the teacher 
and the home feeling which lend such peculiar charm 
to many of our schools is not wanting in the elemen- 
tary schools of England, though the pupils do not 
seem to have the same readiness and freedom in the 
schoolroom in the interchange of thought with the 
teacher. 

Out-of-Door Sports. — The people of Great Brit- 
ain, more than any other people, I believe, value 
out-of-door sports as a means of physical development 

and as a means of forming manly character. How- 
14 



174 ENGLAND AND WALES 

ever great the stress of study in the preparatory and 
collegiate schools, ample time is allowed in afternoons 
for games and other forms of recreation and amuse- 
ment in the open air. Sound and sustained scholar- 
ship is not expected unless the body is kept in health 
and strength by abundance of out-of-door life. The 
best forms of exercise, the English believe, are plays 
which the students spontaneously plan and execute 
with enthusiasm and with skill. In the elementary 
schools, the teachers feel that the vigorous use of the 
play hours is of primal importance in developing man- 
hood. They are not troubled with the fact that boys 
in the German schools are in their studies often two 
years in advance of English boys, of the same age, for 
they feel assured that the spectacle-eyed, book-worn 
German boy, in later life, will fall behind in practical 
affairs the English boy whose whole nature has been 
made buoyant and forceful by the freedom and the 
training of the playground. The contrast at school 
recess between the demure German boy and the bois- 
terous and intensely active English boy is often re- 
marked by those who visit German and English 
schools. Systematic gymnastic training may be a 
necessity for the German boy. It accords with the 
military atmosphere of the German schools. Gym- 
nastics are included in the curriculum of most Eng- 
lish schools, but the teachers especially prize the 
manly development gained in well-managed sports. 



CONCLUSIONS 1T5 

By their presence and by their cooperation the teach- 
ers strive to make the sports of the playground at- 
tractive and effective. 

The English System, National. — The English 
system of elementary schools is superior to ours in 
that it is organized under one central authority. The 
schools are a national interest. We are so tenacious 
of local institutions and so apprehensive that any na- 
tional centralization of school administration will 
tend to make the management of the schools a matter 
of party politics that we are unwilling to establish a 
national system. From the first, it has been our 
policy to have each State independent in all that per- 
tains to education. The J^ational Bureau of Educa- 
tion, at Washington, now so serviceable to all the 
States in collecting, collating, and distributing educa- 
tional information and germinal ideas, is of compara- 
tively recent origin, and was established with consider- 
able reluctance on the part of Congress. Local man- 
agement of schools is so strongly entrenched that 
State control is far less effective in most States than 
the welfare of the schools demands, especially in the 
older States. The Board of Education in Massachu- 
setts, a State acknowledged to be foremost in educa- 
tion, can advise and encourage what they deem help- 
ful to the welfare of the public schools; but they can 
enforce nothing save so much accuracy in school 
statistics as may be required by law as a condition of 



176 ENGLAND AND WALES 

apportioning certain public funds. The suggestions 
embodied in the annual reports of the Board to the 
State legislature, the institutes held in different 
places from time to time, the general oversight of the 
normal schools in which a large proportion of the 
public-school teachers are trained, and the continuous 
work of the secretary and the agents of the Board in 
teachers' gatherings, in citizens' meetings, and in the 
schools, is very valuable, but not authoritative. A 
central authority, as in England, while making ample 
provision for local effort and interest, can render such 
firm and effective support to progressive measures as 
to make them general and permanent. The code an- 
nually issued by the Education Department and ap- 
proved by Parliament is school law. The danger is 
that a strong central authority will override the local 
administration and diminish local responsibility and 
local interest. That this is the tendency of the Eng- 
lish parliamentary authority is evident to any one 
conversant with the system of elementary schools. 
The people seem more and more disposed to look to 
the national exchequer for the funds to maintain the 
schools, about three-fourths of the annual expenditure 
being provided from that source, and it seems reason- 
able that so far as the Government maintains, it 
should control. We are not, however, to lose sight of 
the fact that a large amount is annually raised by local 
taxation in aid of elementary schools. Much is said 



CONCLUSIONS 177 

in Parliament and in the instructions given inspect- 
ors against weakening the self-reliance of the local 
managers. The central authority is most serviceable 
in preventing schools in communities indifferent to 
education from falling below a minimum standard 
of excellence. The weak element in democratic 
communities like ours is the lack of strong central 
authority to conserve the conditions of progress 
and secure to more needy communities educational 
advantages similar to those enjoyed by the more 
favored. 

Evidences of Progress. — In the larger cities 
especially, and throughout England, the amount 
raised by local taxation for the maintenance of ele- 
mentary schools is steadily increasing, showing a 
growing appreciation of the value of the schools and 
better ideals of education. The people are more 
generous in their expenditure, because they wish to 
secure a more complete education than was originally 
planned by the Government. In London some 60 
board schools of higher grade — i. e., schools teaching 
" Specific Subjects " to some pupils who have finished 
the seventh grade, though the legality of organizing 
and maintaining such schools under the elementary 
schools act is still questioned — are maintained at pub- 
lic expense by local efforts mainly. London is now 
taking measures to provide scientific schools having 
two- or three-year courses in which graduates of ele- 



178 ENGLAND AND WALES 

mentar J schools may be taught. This is an indication 
that there is an increasing demand for a system of 
free secondary schools. This demand has already 
had an effect upon Parliament. The Education De- 
partment has recently been reorganized with a view 
of providing for such a system. But the ample pro- 
vision already made in schools on private foundations 
for the secondary and university education of the 
upper classes, and their persuasion that it is not wise 
to instruct the children of the laboring class in other 
than elementary studies, must retard the movement 
to establish free secondary schools. 

Since 1890 the greater part of the parliamentary 
grant has been apportioned on the basis of average 
attendance and the general efficiency of the school, 
instead of on the basis of the results of individual 
examinations conducted by his Majesty's inspectors. 
This change in the mode of inspecting is an evidence 
of the greater excellence of the teachers and of the in- 
creased confidence reposed in them. They are not 
hampered as heretofore by the limitations of regularly 
recurring examinations in all the studies " earning 
grants." They now have more freedom in devising 
and in realizing their plans for improving their 
schools. The change in the mode of inspection has 
also freed the inspectors from a continuous clerical 
work once so exhaustive as to leave little time or 
energy to study the methods of discipline and of 



CONCLUSIONS 179 

teaching employed. The duties now demanded of 
an inspector are more attractive to men of large cul- 
ture and professional skill, and such men in larger 
numbers will be employed. 

The provisions for the culture and training of 
teachers, though still inadequate, have been enlarged 
and much improved. The last ten years is a period 
of decided advance. The establishment of day train- 
ing-colleges in 1890 enabling those who are to teach 
to receive instruction at a university college, while in 
professional training, is an unmistakable evidence of 
the advance of the elementary teacher both in oppor- 
tunity and in public estimation. If at Oxford and 
Cambridge well-endowed training-colleges could be 
established with a generous course of study, the caste 
feeling that now intervenes between the primary and 
the secondary teacher might be diminished. The 
teachers of the elementary schools, as a body, are 
clearly superior to those who have preceded them; 
the average salary is more; the number of pupil-teach- 
ers is relatively smaller. Men of broad views and 
high social standing are already looking forward to 
the time when the elementary-school teacher will not 
be excluded from the social advantages to be gained 
by mingling with teachers of higher grades. The 
Right Eev. J. Percival, Lord Bishop of Hereford, 
not long ago, in a public address, said that he would 
have all schools, whether primary or secondary, under 



180 ENGLAND AND WALES 

one and the same administrative system, " so that 
there may no longer be what is practically an im- 
passable barrier of separation between primary and 
secondary teachers. . . . Teachers would thus be 
brought to look upon themselves as all belonging to 
one and the same body, and the ablest and most suc- 
cessful men and women in primary schools would 
have opportunities of passing from elementary to sec- 
ondary schools, so that the career of such teachers 
would be enlarged and their office made all the more 
attractive. And if every soldier in E'apoleon's army 
was stimulated by the thought that he might some 
day grasp the marshal's baton, the same principle of 
a career open to merit without let or hindrance would 
doubtless have a similar effect in the great army of 
our elementary teachers. On the other hand, men 
and women educated in secondary schools and of va- 
rious classes of society would thus be led to look to 
the profession of teachers in elementary schools, and 
we might thus hope gradually to sweep away the feel- 
ing of class distinction which now separates the pri- 
mary schools from the rest of our educational system, 
and so put an end to one of the chief defects in the 
education of the poor, that of leaving it almost en- 
tirely in the hands of teachers belonging to their 
own class. ... In our elementary-school system it is 
a cardinal defect that the teacher is confined through- 
out the whole period of his education within the circle 



CONCLUSIONS 181 

of his own class and never mixes freely with students 
of any other class. He begins as a pupil in the ele- 
mentary school; he passes on to be a pupil-teacher, 
and next proceeds to the isolated training-college, and 
from this he returns to the elementary school. . . . 
I should be glad to see at least one elementary teach- 
ers' training-college established in each of our great 
universities, so that all the members might have the 
advantage of university association. . . . My last 
suggestion on this point is that steps should be taken 
to invite and attract students from the secondary 
schools to enter the elementary-school training-col- 
leges with the view of becoming elementary-school 
teachers." 

That the Education Department are desirous of 
attracting to the elementary schools as teachers men 
of broader culture, is evident from the fact that any 
one who has passed the examination entitling him to 
graduate in arts or science from any university in the 
United Kingdom, may be recognized by the depart- 
ment as a certificated teacher provided he holds a 
satisfactory certificate of proficiency in the theory 
and practise of teaching issued by a university or col- 
legiate body. Those holding the schoolmaster's di- 
ploma granted to graduates by the University of 
Edinburgh; or the certificate of the University of 
Cambridge in the theory, history, and practise of 
teaching, accompanied by the certificate of practical 



182 ENGLAND AND WALES 

efficiency in teaching; or the teacher's diploma of the 
University of London, or the diploma of associate, 
licentiate, or fellow of the College of Preceptors, 
accompanied by the certificate of ability to teach ; or 
the certificate of the theory and practise of teaching 
issued by Durham University, may be recognized as 
certified teachers. 

Another evidence of progress is the good begin- 
ning made in London and in other large centers in the 
teaching of woodwork to boys, and laundry work, 
cookery, and practical housewifery to girls. Some- 
thing is accomplished in teaching cottage garden- 
ing in some rural schools. The recent instructions 
of the department show that increasing attention is 
to be given to the several forms of manual train- 
ing, and that they are to be so taught as to conduce 
to general or liberal, and not merely to technical, 
education. 

In 1895, 135,430 girls reached sufficient profi- 
ciency in cookery to receive grants, 11,720 in laun- 
dry work, and 35,964 in domestic economy. More 
recent returns will show a much larger number. 
Several hundred boys annually receive grants for pro- 
ficiency in market-gardening. 

The increasing proportion of teachers in the ele- 
mentary schools who have completed a course of pro- 
fessional training is an evidence of progress that 
should not pass unnoticed. 



CONCLUSIONS 183 

The proportion of adult teachers has risen from 
61 per cent to 72 per cent between 1876 and 1896. 
During the next decade the proportion of pupil- 
teachers will be more rapidly decreased than in 
the past. 

The attendance at evening continuation schools 
has much increased since 1893, owing mainly to the 
abolition of fees and the introduction of higher 
studies in the place of elementary, which are no longer 
obligatory. The applicants for admission to these 
schools were, we are told, 25,000 in 1897, and 50,000 
in 1898, an increase of 100 per cent. 

The Cockerton judgment of 1901 relegating the 
continuation or evening schools to the province of 
elementary schools, and affirming that school boards 
have no power to spend rates on other than elemen- 
tary education, has dealt the heaviest blow to the con- 
tinuation schools which they have experienced for 
many a year. If this decision is to be strictly en- 
forced, the evening schools, so far as they are main- 
tained by local rates, must be literally continuation 
elementary schools. There will be no opportunity 
for mechanics and workmen to obtain that technical 
and that higher instruction which their employment 
or their taste demands. The attendance at these 
schools must greatly diminish. The Cockerton judg- 
ment may be technically correct in that it is in accord 
with the acts under which the system of elementary 



184 ENGLAND AND WALES 

schools has been established; but, when municipalities 
and other communities by voluntary effort have 
adapted the instruction in their evening schools to the 
needs of workmen and the educational cravings of 
youth too far advanced in knowledge to be benefited 
by elementary instruction, it would seem that such 
communities should be encouraged to continue their 
good work. 

If good customs can not be allowed to modify or 
supplant laws that are wisely outgrown, how is prog- 
ress possible? 

The creation, in 1896, by the Education Depart- 
ment, of an office for Special Inquiries and Reports 
on Educational Subjects has already rendered much 
aid to the schools of the United Kingdom. The annual 
reports from this office by the director, Mr. M. E. Sad- 
ler, are destined to be of the same inestimable value as 
the reports of our l^ational Bureau of Education. 

Though England is far behind Scotland, Switzer- 
land, and Germany in securing the attendance of chil- 
dren at school, yet she is making positive advance. 
By a bill introduced into the House of Commons 
March 1, 1899, the age of exemption from school at- 
tendance has been raised from eleven to twelve years 
of age. In 1876 it was fijced at ten years, and in 
1893 at eleven years. "No one can leave school un- 
less he has passed the fourth standard in reading, 
writing, and arithmetic, or has made 350 attendances 



CONCLUSIONS 185 

for each of ia.Ye years at some elementary school re- 
corded as efficient. 

Yet the lack of attendance is one of the most 
grave defects of the elementary schools. Sir John 
Gorst, who for several years has been the vice-presi- 
dent of the committee of the Privy Council on educa- 
tion, not long ago said in the House of Commons: 
" There are 1,000,000 children in the kingdom out 
of school between the ages of five and fourteen who 
ought to be in school." 

Of the 754,000 enrolled in the elementary schools 
of London in 1899, 145,000 per day were absent, and 
it is estimated that not less than a sixth of the children 
of school age in London are not enrolled in any school. 
While some of these receive private instruction, the 
presumption is that the majority are deprived of their 
educational rights. 

As children are not required, as in our towns, to 
attend school in their own districts, but may attend 
in any other, provided the accommodations are there 
sufficient, it is in London easier than with us to avoid 
truant-officers. 

Doubtless the people of London would claim for 
themselves a higher social rank than they would 
award to the people of Glasgow, yet the average 
school attendance in Glasgow by recent returns was 
89 per cent, while the average in London was 81 per 
cent. 



18G ENGLAND AND WALES 

Thougli $200,000 are annually expended in Lon- 
don in securing school attendance, the machinery of 
the law is so defective that court dockets are often 
overloaded with cases of '' chronic irregularity." The 
penalties imposed are not sufficiently effective. The 
fines for non-attendance have been trifling compared 
with those in Scotland, a land far inferior to England 
in wealth. Magistrates in London often limit the 
number of prosecutions for non-attendance at school, 
affirming their inability to deal with all delinquents. 
But there are signs of positive improvement. Penal- 
ties have been increased. The average attendance is 
increasing. 

Citizens of England and of every land should heed 
the words of Ruskin: 

" Make your educational laws strict, and your 
criminal laws may be gentle; but leave youth its 
liberty, and you will have to dig dungeons for age." 

It would be well for the children and for the 
public weal if the people of England would give less 
heed to traditional notions respecting the right of 
parents to dispose of the time and strength of their 
children as they wish, and more heed to the means 
that should be used to secure the educational rights 
of those upon whom, in a few years, will devolve the 
success or the failure of the nation. 



ACT OF 1903 187 

ACT or 1902 

PRELIMmAKY 

After tlie preceding pages were written, tlie edu- 
cation bill of 1902 was enacted, becoming, Decem- 
ber 18, 1902, the Education Act of 1902. With a 
few preliminary statements, we subjoin this act — one 
of the most important that an English Parliament 
ever enacted. 

Since 1870 the elementary schools of England 
have made great progress, especially in towns and 
cities largely supplied with board schools. Yet the 
general intelligence resulting from a system of ele- 
mentary schools is in England inferior to that of 
Switzerland, of Germany, and of the United States. 
This inferiority is owing mainly to inefficient schools 
and to the withdrawal of pupils at an early age. 
There is no system of secondary schools to continue 
the work begun in the primary grades and to stimu- 
late to longer study in those grades. The inefficiency 
of the elementary schools is largely owing to the fact 
that more than one-half of the pupils in England are 
enrolled in voluntary schools that lack the means of 
doing what they would. The grants from the na- 
tional treasury, supplemented by private contribu- 
tions and the income in some cases from endowments, 
have not been sufficient to maintain such schools as 



188 ENGLAND AND WALES 

England must have if the nation would hold its place 
in manufactures and trade among the more progress- 
ive peoples of the world. 

The supporters of the voluntary schools, by their 
lack of means to maintain their schools and by their 
disposition in many places to limit the expenditures 
of the board schools, have retarded the progress of 
elementary instruction. In the rural districts, where 
each parish is a school area, school communities are 
so small and often so poor, and so conservative, that 
board schools, if established, are often managed in a 
penurious way, so that a voluntary school coming 
under the oversight of some clergyman is usually con- 
ducted with more liberality than a board school in the 
same area would be. 

Again, there has been a waste of expenditures and 
a conflict of authorities owing to the jurisdiction of 
local authorities overlapping each other. County 
councils have been authorized to maintain technical 
or higher institutions in places where the school 
boards were maintaining similar institutions. The 
central authority emanating from Parliament was 
unified by the act of 1900. There has been pressing 
need of unifying local authority, of combining rural 
parishes, and other small areas, in larger school areas, 
and of providing adequate means for the support of 
the voluntary schools or of supplanting them by estab- 
lishing board schools that have the right to supple- 



ACT OF 1902 189 

ment the grants from the national exchequer by levy- 
ing local rates. 

Sir John Gorst, in a recent article in the Mne- 
teenth Century, before the passage of the Act of 
1902, said: 

" Unless reform is very promptly undertaken, 
the English nation will be less instructed than the 
people of European states, of America, and even of 
our own colonies. ... If it is true that the inter- 
national rivalry of the future will be one of commerce 
and manufactures, the uninstructed nations will have 
to reconcile themselves to be the menial servants of 
the rest of the world and to perform the lower and 
rougher operations of modern industry; while all 
those which require taste, skill, and invention gradual- 
ly fall into the hands of people who are better taught. 
If a race that aspires to exercise imperial influence in 
the world must possess knowledge as well as courage, 
and intelligence as well as wealth, the people of Eng- 
land must be content to see the empire decline, unless 
other citizens of the empire take up the task for which 
the lack of public instruction renders the people of 
England unequal. It is therefore no exaggeration to 
call the state of public instruction in England an 
emergency. The danger is imminent. There is no 
time to lose. Teachers and schools can not be cre- 
ated in a moment by act of Parliament. If all the 

authorities in England — the people, the parents, the 
15 



190 ENGLAND AND WALES 

churches, the county and municipal councils, the Cen- 
tral Government — get to work this day in earnest to 
improve public instruction, it would be years before 
the improved machinery could be got into working 
order and our public instruction brought up to the 
level of that which has for many years already been 
possessed by our commercial and industrial rivals." 

Speaking of the defects in instruction of the ele- 
mentary schools, aggravated by the poverty of the 
voluntary schools and their rivalry with the board 
schools, he says : " But waste of money is not the 
worst consequence of the dual system. Schools are 
tempted to teach not that which is most profitable to 
the scholars of the nation, but that which is most 
popular and will attract most pupils. Preparation 
for examination has taken the place of real education. 
... In evening schools an increasing number dance 
and swim and gaze at magic lanterns; a decreasing 
number avail themselves of the opportunity for real 
study. As a plan of giving innocent recreation to the 
masses, the system of evening continuation schools has 
been a success; as a means of making up the terrible 
deficiencies of our people in commercial and technical 
capacity it is a failure. 

" Such is the state of public instruction in Eng- 
land. In Wales, which in education is linked with 
England, the Intermediate Act has mitigated to some 
extent the defects of higher education; the state- 



ACT OF 1903 191 

ments on elementary education apply equally to 
both.'' 

Non-conformists now maintain, as they stoutly 
maintained in 1870, when the present system of ele- 
mentary instruction was inaugurated, that public 
funds should not be expended for the maintenance of 
voluntary schools — i. e., sectarian schools; but that 
public money for schools should be expended under 
the control of the public for the maintenance of board 
— i. e., unsectarian — schools. Hence the strenuous 
opposition of non-conformists to some of the provi- 
sions of the Act of 1902. But however correct the 
principle urged by the non-conformists, that public 
money should be expended for public and unsectarian 
objects, serious difficulties arise in its application. 

The Anglican Church by its voluntary schools for 
decades previous to 1870 provided about all the ele- 
mentary schools. Previous to 1870 Parliament left 
the education of children to parents and to the 
Church. When in 1870 Parliament attempted to 
provide for the education of all children of school 
age, it recognized the prescriptive rights of the 
Church and the value of its schools by leaving them 
intact, increasing grants to aid them and by limiting 
the establishment of board schools to those places in 
which seats in Church schools could not be provided 
for all children. 

Again, it is estimated that to provide board 



192 ENGLAND AND WALES 

schools for pupils not attending voluntary schools 
would involve an expenditure of $150,000,000 for 
school buildings and grounds. 

A third difficulty is the sentiment of the present 
Parliament. It is a strongly conservative Parlia- 
ment inclined to do full justice to, if not to unduly 
upbuild, the Anglican Church. 

EDUCATION ACT, 1902 
CHAPTER 42 
An Act to make further provision with respect to 
education in England and Wales. 

[18th December, 1902.'] 
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent 
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this 
present Parliament assembled, and by the authority 
of the same, as follows : 

PART I 

LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITY 

1. — For the purposes of this Act the council of 
every county and of every county borough shall be 

the local education authority: 
education Provided that the council of a 

borough with a population of over ten 
thousand, or of an urban district with a population of 
over twenty thousand, shall, as respects that borough 



ACT OF 1902 193 

or district, be the local education anthority for the 
purpose of Part III of this Act, and for that purpose 
as respects that borough or district, the expression 
" local education authority " means the council of 
that borough or district. 

PART II 

HIGHER EDUCATION 

2. — (1) The local education authority shall con- 
sider the educational needs of their area and take 

-r^ , ... such steps as seem to them desirable, 
Power to aid ^ ^ 

higher edu- after consultation with the Board of 
cation. . . i i 

Education, to supply or aid the supply 

of education other than elementary, and to promote 

the general coordination of all forms of education, 

and for that purpose shall apply all or so much as 

they deem necessary of the residue under section one 

of the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 

1890, and shall carry forward for the like purpose 

any balance thereof which may remain unexpended, 

and may spend such further sums as they think fit: 

Provided that the amount raised by the council of a 

county for the purpose in any year out of rates under 

this Act shall not exceed the amount which would be 

produced by a rate of twopence in the pound, or such 

higher rate as the County Council, with the consent 

of the Local Government Board, may fix. 

(2) A council, in exercising their powers under 



194 ENGLAND AND WALES 

this Part of this Act, shall have regard to any exist- 
ing supply of efficient schools or colleges, and to any 
steps already taken for the purpose of higher educa- 
tion under the Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 and 
1891. 

3. — The council of any non-county borough or 
urban district shall have power as well as the county 

council to spend such sums as they 
Concurrent n c i c t - 

powers of think fit for the purpose of supplying 

oughs and or aiding the supply of education other 

urban districts. ^^^^ elementary: Provided that the 

amount raised by the council of a non-county bor- 
ough or urban district for the purpose in any year 
out of rates under this Act shall not exceed the 
amount which would be produced by a rate of one 
penny in the pound. 

4. — (1) A council, in the application of money 
under this Part of this Act, shall not require that any 
Religious particular form of religious instruction 

instruction. ^^ worship or any religious catechism or 
formulary which is distinctive of any particular de- 
nomination shall or shall not be taught, used, or prac- 
tised in any school, college or hostel aided but not 
provided by the council, and no pupil shall, on the 
ground of religious belief, be excluded from or placed 
in an inferior position in any school, college or hostel 
provided by the council, and no catechism or formu- 
lary distinctive of any particular religious denomina- 



ACT OF 1903 195 

tion shall be taught in any school, college or hostel so 
provided, except in cases where the council, at the 
request of parents of scholars, at such times and 
under such conditions as the council think desirable, 
allow any religious instruction to be given in the 
school, college or hostel, otherwise than at the cost of 
the council: Provided that in the exercise of this 
power no unfair preference shall be shown to any re- 
ligious denomination. 

(2) In a school or college receiving a grant 
from, or maintained by, a council under this Part 
of this Act. 

(a) A scholar attending as a day or evening 
scholar shall not be required, as a condition of being 
admitted into or remaining in the school or college, to 
attend or abstain from attending any Sunday-school, 
place of religious worship, religious observance, or 
instruction in religious subjects in the school or col- 
lege or elsewhere; and 

(b) The times for religious worship or for any 
lesson on a religious subject shall be conveniently ar- 
ranged for the purpose of allowing the withdrawal of 
any such scholar therefrom. 

PART III 

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 

5. — The local education authority shall through- 
out their area have the powers and duties of a 



196 ENGLAND AND WALES 

school board and school attendance committee under 
the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 to 1900, 
Powers and ^nd any other Acts, including local 
demen?Ly ^^ts, and shall also be responsible for 
education. ^j^^ have the control of all secular in- 

struction in public elementary schools not provided 
by them, and school boards and school attendance 
committees shall be abolished. 

6. — (1) All public elementary schools provided 
by the local education authority shall, where the local 
Manaeeraent education authority are the council of a 
of schools. county, have a body of managers con- 

sisting of a number of managers not exceeding four 
appointed by that council, together with a number 
not exceeding two appointed by the minor local 
authority. 

Where the local education authority are the coun- 
cil of a borough or urban district they may, if they 
think fit, appoint for any school provided by them a 
body of managers consisting of such number of man- 
agers as they may determine. 

(2) All public elementary schools not provided ^ 
by the local education authority shall, in place of the 
existing managers, have a body of managers consist- 
ing of a number of foundation managers not exceed- 
ing four appointed as provided by this Act, together 

1 Voluntary schools are designated in the Act by words "not 
provided," etc. 



ACT OF 1902 197 

with a number of managers not exceeding two ap- 
pointed — 

(a) Where the local education authority are the 
council of a county, one by that council and one by 
the minor local authority; and 

(6) Where the local education authority are the 
council of a borough or urban district, both by that 
authority. 

(3) ^Notwithstanding anything in this section — 

(a) Schools may be grouped under one body of 
managers in manner provided by this Act ; and 

(h) Where the local education authority consider 
that the circumstances of any school require a larger 
body of managers than that provided under this sec- 
tion, that authority may increase the total number of 
managers, so, however, that the number of each class 
of managers is proportionately increased. 

7. — (1) The local education authority shall main- 
tain and keep efficient all public elementary schools 
Maintenance within their area which are necessary, 
of schools. ^^^ j^^^g ^Yie control of all expenditure 

required for that purpose, other than expenditure for 
which, under this Act, provision is to be made by the 
managers; but, in the case of a school not provided 
by them, only so long as the following conditions and 
provisions are complied with: 

(a) The managers of the school shall carry out any 
directions of the local education authority as to the 



198 ENGLAND AND WALES 

secular instruction to be given in the school, including 
any directions with respect to the number and edu- 
cational qualifications of the teachers to be employed 
for such instruction, and for the dismissal of any 
teacher on educational grounds ; and if the managers 
fail to carry out any such directions the local educa- 
tion authority shall, in addition to their other powers, 
have the power themselves to carry out the direction 
in question as if they were the managers; but no di- 
rection given under this provision shall be such as to 
interfere with reasonable facilities for religious in- 
struction during school hours; 

(h) The local education authority shall have 
power to inspect the school; 

(c) The consent of the local education author- 
ity shall be required to the appointment of teach- 
ers, but that consent shall not be withheld except 
on educational grounds; and the consent of the au- 
thority shall also be required to the dismissal of a 
teacher unless the dismissal be on grounds con- 
nected with the giving of religious instruction in 
the school; 

(d) The managers of the school shall provide the 
schoolhouse free of any charge, except for the teach- 
er's dwelling-house (if any), to the local education 
authority for use as a public elementary school, and 
shall, out of funds provided by them, keep the school- 
house in good repair, and make such alterations and 



ACT OF 1903 199 

improvements in the buildings as may be reasonably 
required by the local education authority; provided 
that such damage as the local authority consider to 
be due to fair wear and tear in the use of any room 
in the schoolhouse for the purpose of a public elemen- 
tary school shall be made good by the local education 
authority. 

(e) The managers of the school shall, if the local 
education authority have no suitable accommodation 
in schools provided by them, allow that authority to 
use any room in the schoolhouse out of school hours 
free of charge for any educational purpose, but this 
obligation shall not extend to more than three days 
in the week. 

(2) The managers of a school maintained but not 
provided by the local education authority, in respect 
of the use by them of the school furniture out of 
school hours, and the local education authority in re- 
spect of the use by them of any room in the school- 
house out of school hours, shall be liable to make 
good any damage caused to the furniture or the room, 
as the case may be, by reason of that use (other than 
damage arising from fair wear and tear), and the 
managers shall take care that, after the use of a room 
in the schoolhouse by them, the room is left in a 
proper condition for school purposes. 

(3) If any question arises under this section be- 
tween the local education authority and the man- 



200 ENGLAND AND WALES 

agers of a school not provided by the authority, that j 
question shall be determined by the Board of Edu- 
cation. 

(4) One of the conditions required to be fulfilled 
by an elementary school in order to obtain a parlia- 
mentary grant shall be that it is maintained under 
and complies with the provisions of this section. 

(5) In public elementary schools maintained but 
not provided by the local education authority, assist- 
ant teachers and pupil-teachers may be appointed, if 
it is thought fit, without reference to religious creed 
and denomination, and, in any case in which there are 
more candidates for the post of pupil-teacher than 
there are places to be filled, the appointment shall be 
made by the local education authority, and they shall 
determine the respective qualifications of the candi- 
dates by examination or otherwise. 

(6) Religious instruction given in a public ele- 
mentary school not provided by the local education 
authority shall, as regards its character, be in accord- 
ance with the provisions (if any) of the trust deed re- 
lating thereto, and shall be under the control of the 
managers: Provided that nothing in this subsection 
shall affect any provision in a trust deed for reference 
to the bishop or superior ecclesiastical or other de- 
nominational authority so far as such provision gives 
to the bishop or authority the power of deciding 
whether the character of the religious instruction 



ACT OP 1902 201 

is or is not in accordance with tlie provisions of tlie 
trust deed. 

(7) The managers of a school maintained but not 
provided by the local education authority shall have 
all powers of management required for the purpose 
of carrying out this Act, and shall (subject to the 
powers of the local education authority under this 
section) have the exclusive power of appointing and 
dismissing teachers. 

8. — (1) Where the local education authority or 
any other persons propose to provide a new pub- 
Provision of ^^^ elementary school, they shall give 
new schools. public notice of their intention to do 
so, and the managers of any existing school, or the 
local education authority (where they are not them- 
selves the persons proposing to provide the school), 
or any ten ratepayers in the area for which it is 
proposed to provide the school, may, within three 
months after the notice is given, appeal to the Board 
of EducatioH on the ground that the proposed school 
is not required, or that a school provided by the local 
education authority, or not so provided, as the case 
may be, is better suited to meet the wants of the dis- 
trict than the school proposed to be provided, and 
any school built in contravention to the decision of the 
Board of Education on such appeal shall be treated 
as unnecessary. 

(2) If, in the opinion of the Board of Education, 



202 ENGLAND AND WALES 

any enlargement of a public elementary scliool is such 
as to amount to the provision of a new school, that en- 
largement shall be treated for the purposes of this 
section. 

(3) Any transfer of a public elementary school 
to or from a local education authority shall for the 
purpose of this section be treated as the provision of 
a new school. 

9. — The Board of Education shall, without un- 
necessary delay, determine, in case of dispute. 
Necessity whether a school is necessary or not, 

of schools. ^^^^ ^jj gQ determining, and also in de- 

ciding on any appeal as to the provision of a new 
school, shall have regard to the interest of secular in- 
struction, to the wishes of parents as to the education 
of their children, and to the economy of the rates; but 
a school for the time being recognized as a public ele- 
mentary school shall not be considered unnecessary 
in which the number of scholars in average attend- 
ance, as computed by the Board of Education, is not 
less than thirty. 

10. — (1) In lieu of the grants under the Volun- 
tary Schools Act, 1897, and under section ninety- 

.., ^ seven of the Elementary Education 

Aid grant. '^ 

Act, 18Y0, as amended by the Elemen- 
tary Education Act, 1897, there shall be annually 
paid to every local education authority, out of moneys 
provided by Parliament — 



ACT OF 1903 203 

(a) A sum equal to four shillings per scholar; and 

(&) An additional sum of three halfpence per 
scholar for every complete twopence per scholar by 
which the amount which would be produced by a 
penny rate on the area of the authority falls short of 
ten shillings a scholar; Provided that, in estimating 
the produce of a penny rate in the area of a local edu- 
cation authority not being a county borough, the rate 
shall be calculated upon the county-rate basis, which, 
in cases where part only of a parish is situated in the 
area of the local education authority, shall be appor- 
tioned in such manner as the Board of Education 
think just. 

But if in any year the total amount of parlia- 
mentary grants payable to a local education authority 
would make the amount payable out of other sources 
by that authority on account of their expenses under 
this Part of this Act less than the amount which 
would be produced by a rate of threepence in the 
pound, the parliamentary grants shall be decreased, 
and the amount payable out of other sources shall be 
increased by a sum equal in each case to half the 
difference. 

(2) For the purposes of this section the number 
of scholars shall be taken to be the number of scholars 
in average attendance, as computed by the Board of 
Education, in public elementary schools maintained 
by the authority. 



204 ENGLAND AND WALES 

11. — (1) The foundation managers of a school 
shall be managers appointed under the provisions of 
Foundation *^® ^rust deed of the school, but if it is 
managers. shown to the satisfaction of the Board 

of Education that the provisions of the trust deed as 
to the appointment of managers are in any respect in- 
consistent with the provisions of this Act, or insuffi- 
cient or inapplicable for the purpose, or that there is 
no such trust deed available, the Board of Education 
shall make an order under this section for the pur- 
pose of meeting the case. 

(2) Any such order may be made on the appli- 
cation of the existing owners, trustees, or man- 
agers of the school, made within a period of three 
months after the passing of this Act, and after 
that period on the application of the local educa- 
tion authority or any other person interested in 
the management of the school, and any such order, 
where it modifies the trust deed, shall have effect 
as part of the trust deed, and where there is no 
trust deed shall have effect as if it were contained 
in a trust deed. 

(3) E'otice of any such application, together with 
a copy of the draft final order proposed to be made 
thereon, shall be given by the Board of Education to 
the local education authority and the existing owners, 
trustees, and managers, and any other persons who 
appear to the Board of Education to be interested, 



ACT OF 1903 205 

and the final order shall not be made until six weeks 
after notice has been so given. 

(4) In making an order under this section with 
regard to any school, the Board of Education shall 
have regard to the ownership of the school-building, 
and to the principles on which the education given in 
the school has been conducted in the past. 

(5) The Board of Education may, if they think 
that the circumstances of the case require it, make 
any interim order on any application under this sec- 
tion to have temporary effect until the final order is 
made. 

(6) The body of managers appointed under this 
Act for a public elementary school not provided by 
the local education authority shall be the managers 
of that school both for the purposes of the Elemen- 
tary Education Acts, 1870 to 1900, and this Act, and, 
so far as respects the management of the school as a 
public elementary school, for the purpose of the trust 
deed. 

(T) Where the receipt by a school, or the trustees 
or managers of a school, of any endowment or other 
benefit is, at the time of the passing of this Act, de- 
pendent on any qualification of the managers, the 
qualification of the foundation managers only shall, 
in case of question, be regarded. 

(8) The Board of Education may, on the applica- 
tion of the managers of the school, the local educa- 
16 



206 ENGLAND AND WALES 

tion authority, or any person appearing to them to be 
interested in the school, revoke, vary, or amend any 
order made under this section by an order made in a 
similar manner; but before making any such order 
the draft thereof shall, as soon as may be, be laid be- 
fore each House of Parliament, and if within thirty 
days, being days on which Parliament has sat, after 
the draft has been so laid before Parliament, either 
House resolves that the draft, or any part thereof, 
should not be proceeded with, no further proceedings 
shall be taken thereon, without prejudice to the 
making of any new draft order. 

12. — (1) The local education authority may 
group under one body of managers any public ele- 
mentary schools provided by them, and 
o/schooS ^^y ^^^^y ^^^^ *^® consent of the man- 

under one agers of the schools, group under one 

body of managers any such schools 
not so provided. 

(2) The body of managers of grouped schools 
shall consist of such number and be appointed in such 
manner and proportion as, in the case of schools pro- 
vided by the local education authority, may be deter- 
mined by that authority ; and in the case of schools 
not so provided, may be agreed upon between the 
bodies of managers of the schools concerned and the 
local education authority, or in default of agreement 
may be determined by the Board of Education. 



ACT OF 1902 207 

(3) Where the local education authority are the 
council of a county, they shall make provision for the 
due representation of minor local authorities on the 
bodies of managers of schools grouped under their 
direction. 

(4) Any arrangement for grouping schools not 
provided by the local education authority shall, unless 
previously determined by consent of the parties con- 
cerned, remain in force for a period of three years. 

13. — (1) l!^othing in this Act shall affect any en- 
dowment, or the discretion of any trustees in respect 

thereof: Provided that, where under 
Endowments. . . «• • 

the trusts or other provisions anectmg 

any endowment the income thereof must be applied 
in whole or in part for those purposes of a public ele- 
mentary school for which provision is to be made by 
the local education authority, the whole of the income 
or the part thereof, as the case may be, shall be paid 
to that authority, and, in case part only of such in- 
come must be so applied and there is no provision 
under the said trusts or provisions for determining 
the amount which represents that part, that amount 
shall be determined, in case of difference between the 
parties concerned, by the Board of Education; but if 
a public inquiry is demanded by the local education 
authority, the decision of the Board of Education 
shall not be given until after such an inquiry, of 
which ten days' previous notice shall be given to the 



208 ENGLAND AND WALES 

local education authority and to the minor local 
authority and to the trustees, shall have been first 
held by the Board of Education at the cost of the 
local education authority. 

(2) Any money arising from an endowment, and 
paid to a county council for those purposes of a 
public elementary school for which provision is to be 
made by the council, shall be credited by the council 
in aid of the rate levied for the purposes of this Part 
of this Act in the parish or parishes which in the 
opinion of the council are served by the school for the 
purposes of which the sum is paid, or, if the council 
so direct, shall be paid to the overseers of the parish 
or parishes in the proportions directed by the council, 
and applied by the overseers in aid of the poor rate 
levied in the parish. 

14. — Where before the passing of this Act fees 

have been charged in any public elementary school 

not provided by the local education 
Apportion- ^ *^ ^ 

ment of authority, that authority shall, while 

they continue to allow fees to be charged 
in respect of that school, pay such proportion of those 
fees as may be agreed upon, or, in default of agree- 
ment, determined by the Board of Education, to the 
managers. 

15. — The local education authority may maintain 
as a public elementary school under the provisions of 
this Act, but shall not be required so to maintain, 



ACT OF 1902 209 

any Marine school, or any school whicli is part of, or 

is held in the premises of, any institution in which 

„ , , children are boarded, but their refusal 

Schools 

attached to to maintain such a school shall not 
institutions. i ^i i i • n n 

render the school mcapable oi receivmg 

a parliamentary grant, nor shall the school, if not so 
maintained, be subject to the provisions of this Act 
as to the appointment of managers, or as to control 
by the local education authority. 

16. — If the local education authority fail to ful- 
fil any of their duties under the Elementary Edu- 
cation Acts, 1870 to 1900, or this Act, 
Power to ' ' ' 

enforce duties or fail to provide such additional pub- 
under Ele- t i i i • . i . i 

mentary Edu- lic-school accommodation withm the 

meaning of the Elementary Education 
Act, 1870, as is, in the opinion of the Board of 
Education, necessary in any part of their area, the 
Board of Education may, after holding a public 
inquiry, make such order as they think neces- 
sary or proper for the purpose of compelling the 
authority to fulfil their duty, and any such order 
may be enforced by mandamus. 

PAET IV 

GENERAL 

17. — (1) Any council having powers under this 
Act shall establish an education committee or educa- 
tion committees, constituted in accordance with a 



210 ENGLAND AND WALES 

scheme made by the council and approved by the 
Board of Education: Provided that if a council hav- 
Education i^g powers under Part II only of this 

committees. ^^^ determine that an education com- 
mittee is unnecessary in their case, it shall not be 
obligatory on them to establish such a committee. 

(2) All matters relating to the exercise by the 
council of their powers under this Act, except the 
power of raising a rate or borrowing money, shall 
stand referred to the education committee, and the 
council, before exercising any such powers, shall, un- 
less in their opinion the matter is urgent, receive and 
consider the report of the education committee with 
respect to the matter in question. The council may 
also delegate to the education committee, with or 
without any restrictions or conditions as they think 
fit, any of their powers under this Act, except the 
power of raising a rate or borrowing money. 

(3) Every such scheme shall provide — 

(a) for the appointment by the council of at least 
a majority of the conimittee, and the persons so ap- 
pointed shall be persons who are members of the 
council, unless, in the case of a county, the council 
shall otherwise determine; 

(h) for the appointment by the council, on the 
nomination or recommendation, where it appears de- 
sirable, of other bodies (including associations of vol- 
untary schools), of persons of experience in educa- 



ACT OF 1902 211 

tion, and of persons acquainted with the needs of the 
various kinds of schools in the area for which the 
council acts; 

(c) for the inclusion of women as well as men 
among the members of the committee; 

(d) for the appointment, if desirable, of members 
of school boards existing at the time of the passing 
of this Act as members of the first committee. 

(4) Any person shall be disqualified for being a 
member of an education committee, who, by reason 
of holding an office or place of profit, or having any 
share or interest in a contract or employment, is dis- 
qualified for being a member of the council appoint- 
ing the education committee, but no such disqualifica- 
tion shall apply to a person by reason only of his hold- 
ing office in a school or college aided, provided, or 
maintained by the council. 

(5) Any such scheme may, for all or any pur- 
poses of this Act, provide for the constitution of a 
separate education committee for any area within a 
county, or for a joint education committee for any 
area formed by a combination of counties, boroughs, 
or urban districts, or of parts thereof. In the case of 
any such joint committee, it shall suffice that a ma- 
jority of the members are appointed by the councils 
of any of the counties, boroughs, or districts out of 
which or parts of which the area is formed. 

(6) Before approving a scheme, the Board of 



212 ENGLAND AND WALES 

Education shall take such measures as may appear 
expedient for the purpose of giving publicity to the 
provisions of the proposed scheme, and, before ap- 
proving any scheme which provides for the appoint- 
ment of more than one education committee, shall 
satisfy themselves that due regard is paid to the im- 
portance of the general coordination of all forms of 
education. 

(7) If a scheme under this section has not been 
made by a council and approved by the Board of Edu- 
cation v^^ithin twelve months after the passing of this 
Act, that Board may, subject to the provisions of this 
Act, make a provisional order for the purposes for 
which a scheme might have been made. 

(8) Any scheme for establishing an education 
committee of the council of any county or county 
borough in Wales or of the county of Monmouth or 
county borough of Newport shall provide that the 
county governing body constituted under the Welsh 
Intermediate Education Act, 1889, for any such 
county or county borough shall cease to exist, and 
shall make such provision as appears necessary or ex- 
pedient for the transfer of the powers, duties, prop- 
erty, and liabilities of any such body to the local edu- 
cation authority under this Act, and for making the 
provisions of this section applicable to the exercise 
by the local education authority of the powers so 
transferred. 



ACT OF 1903 213 

18. — (1) The expenses of a council under this 

Act shall, so far as not otherwise provided for, be 

paid, in the case of the council of a 
Expenses. 

county, out of the county fund, and, in 

the case of the council of a borough, out of the bor- 
ough fund or rate, or, if no borough rate is levied, 
out of a separate rate to be made, assessed, and lev- 
ied in like manner as the borough rate, and in the 
case of the council of an urban district other than a 
borough in manner provided by section thirty-three 
of the Elementary Education Act, 1876, as respects 
the expenses mentioned in that section: Provided 
that— 

(a) the county council may, if they think fit 
(after giving reasonable notice to the overseers of the 
parish or parishes concerned), charge any expenses 
incurred by them under this Act with respect to edu- 
cation other than elementary on any parish or 
parishes which, in the opinion of the council, are 
served by the school or college in connection with 
which the expenses have been incurred; and 

(h) the county council shall not raise any sum on 
account of their expenses under Part III of this Act 
within any borough or urban district the council of 
which is the local education authority for the pur- 
poses of that Part; and 

(c) the county council shall charge such portion 
as they think fit, not being less than one-half or more 



214 ENGLAND AND WALES 

than three-fourtlis, of any expenses incurred by tliem 
in respect of capital expenditure or rent on account of 
the provision or improvement of any public elemen- 
tary school, on the parish or parishes which, in the 
opinion of the council, are served by the school; and 

{d) the county council shall raise such portion as 
they think fit, not being less than one-half or more 
than three-fourths, of any expenses incurred to meet 
the liabilities on account of loans or rent of any 
school board transferred to them, exclusively within 
the area which formed the school district in respect 
of which the liability was incurred, so far as it is 
within their area. 

(2) All receipts in respect of any school main- 
tained by a local education authority, including any 
parliamentary grant, but excluding sums specially 
applicable for purposes for which provision is to be 
made by the managers, shall be paid to that authority. 

(3) Separate accounts shall be kept by the council 
of a borough of their receipts and expenditure under 
this Act, and those accounts shall be made up and 
audited in like manner and subject to the same pro- 
visions as the accounts of a county council, and the 
enactments relating to the audit of those accounts and 
to all matters incidental thereto and consequential 
thereon, including the penal provisions, shall apply in 
lieu of the provisions of the Municipal Corporations 
Act, 1882, relating to accounts and audit. 



ACT OF 1903 215 

(4) "WTiere under any local act tlie expenses in- 
curred in any borough for the purposes of the Ele- 
mentary Education Acts, 1870 to 1900, are payable 
out of some fund or rate other than the borough fund 
or rate, the expenses of the council of that borough 
under this Act shall be payable out of that fund or 
rate instead of out of the borough fund or rate. 

(5) Where any receipts or payments of money 
under this Act are entrusted by the local education 
authority to any education committee established 
under this Act, or to the managers of any public ele- 
mentary school, the accounts of those receipts and 
payments shall be accounts of the local education 
authority, but the auditor of those accounts shall have 
the same powers with respect to managers as he would 
have if the managers were officers of the local educa- 
tion authority. 

19. — (1) A council may borrow for the purposes 
of the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 to 1900, or 
this Act, in the case of a county council 
as for the purposes of the Local Gov- 
ernment Act, 1888, and in the case of the council 
of a county borough, borough, or urban district as 
for the purposes of the Public Health Acts, but the 
money borrowed by a county borough, borough, or 
urban district council shall be borrowed on the se- 
curity of the fund or rate out of which the expenses 
of the council under this Act are payable. 



216 ENGLAND AND WALES 

(2) Money borrowed under this Act shall not be 
reckoned as part of the total debt of a county for the 
purposes of section sixty-nine of the Local Govern- 
ment Act, 1888, or as part of the debt of a county 
borough, borough, or urban district for the purpose 
of the limitation on borrowing under subsection two 
and three of section two hundred and thirty-four of 
the Public Health Act, 1875. 

20. — An authority having powers under this 
Act: 

(a) may make arrangements with the council of 
any county, borough, district, or parish, whether a 

local education authority or not, for the 
Arrangements ^ . 

between exercise by the council, on such terms 

councils. 1 1 • T • 1 

and subject to such conditions as may be 

agreed on, of any powers of the authority in respect 
of the management of any school or college "within 
the area of the council; and 

(h) if the authority is the council of a non-county 
borough or urban district may, at any time after the 
passing of this Act, by agreement with the council of 
the county, and with the approval of the Board of 
Education, relinquish in favor of the council of the 
county any of their powers and duties under this Act, 
and in that case the powers and duties of the author- 
ity so relinquished shall cease, and the area of the 
authority, if the powers and duties relinquished in- 
clude powers as to elementary education, shall, as 



ACT OF 1902 217 

5*espects those powers, be part of the area of the 

county council. 

21. — (1) Sections two hundred and ninety-seven 

and two hundred and ninety-eight of the Public 

_ . . , Health Act, 1875 (which relate to pro- 
Provisional ^ ' ^ ^ 

orders and visional orders), shall apply to any pro- 

SCllGIIlBS 

visional order made under this Act as if 
it were made under that Act, but references to a local 
authority shall be construed as references to the au- 
thority to whom the order relates, and references to 
the Local Government Board shall be construed as 
references to the Board of Education. 

(2) Any scheme or provisional order under this 
Act may contain such incidental or consequential pro- 
visions as may appear necessary or expedient. 

(3) A scheme under this Act when approved shall 
have effect as if enacted in this Act, and any such 
scheme, or any provisional order made for the pur- 
poses of such a scheme, may be revoked or altered 
by a scheme made in like manner and having the same 
effect as an original scheme. 

22. — (1) In this Act and in the Ele- 
to elementary mentary Education Acts the expression 
educatfon^'' " elementary school " shall not include 

powers ajiy school carried on as an eveninoj 

respectively. '^ ^ ^ 

school under the regulations of the 

Board of Education. 

(2) The power to provide instruction under the 



218 ENGLAND AND WALES 

Elementary Education Acts, 1870 to 1900, shall, ex- 
cept where those Acts expressly provide to the con- 
trary, be limited to the provision in a public elemen- 
tary school of instruction given under the regulations 
of the Board of Education to scholars who, at the 
close of the school year, will not be more than sixteen 
years of age: Provided that the local education au- 
thority may, with the consent of the Board of Edu- 
cation, extend those limits in the case of any such 
school if no suitable higher education is available 
within a reasonable distance of the school. 

(3) The power to supply or aid the supply of edu- 
cation other than elementary includes a power to 
train teachers, and to supply or aid the supply of any 
education except where that education is given at a 
public elementary school. 

23. — (1) The powers of a council under this Act 

shall include the provision of vehicles or the payment 

„. of reasonable traveling expenses for 

laneous teachers or children attending school 

provisions. m i n 

or college whenever the council shall 

consider such provision or payment required by the 
circumstances of their area or of any part thereof. 

(2) The power of a council to supply or aid the 
supply of education, other than elementary, shall in- 
clude power to make provision for the purpose out- 
side their area in cases where they consider it expedi- 
ent to do so in the interests of their area, and shall 



ACT OF 1903 219 

include power to provide or assist in providing scholar- 
sliips for, and to pay or assist in paying the fees of, 
students ordinarily resident in the area of the coun- 
cil at schools or colleges or hostels within or without 
that area. 

(3) The county councilors elected for an electoral 
division consisting wholly of a borough or urban dis- 
trict whose council are a local education authority 
for the purpose of Part III of this Act, or of some 
part of such a borough or district, shall not vote in re- 
spect of any question arising before the county coun- 
cil which relates only to matters under Part III of 
this Act. 

(4) The amount which would be produced by any 
rate in the pound shall be estimated for the purposes 
of this Act in accordance with regulations made by 
the Local Government Board. 

(5) The Mortmain and Charitable Uses Act, 1888, 
and so much of the Mortmain and Charitable Uses 
Act, 1891, as requires that land assured by will shall 
be sold within one year from the death of the testator, 
shall not apply to any assurance, within the meaning 
of the said Act of 1888, of land for the purpose of a 
schoolhouse for an elementary school. 

(6) A woman is not disqualified, either by sex or 
marriage, for being on any body of managers or edu- 
cation committee under this Act. 

(7) Teachers in a school maintained but not pro- 



220 ENGLAND AND WALES 

vided by the local education authority shall be in the 
same position as respects disqualification for office as 
members of the authority as teachers in a school pro- 
vided by the authority. 

(8) Population for the purposes of this Act shall 
be calculated according to the census of 1901. 

(9) Subsections one and ^ve of section eighty- 
seven of the Local Government Act, 1888 (which re- 
late to local inquiries), shall apply with respect to any 
order, consent, sanction, or approval which the Local 
Government Board are authorized to make or give 
under this Act. 

(10) The Board of Education may, if they think 
fit, hold a public inquiry for the purpose of the exer- 
cise of any of their powers or the performance of any 
of their duties under this Act, and section seventy- 
three of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, shall 
apply to any public inquiry so held or held under any 
other provision of this Act. 

24. — (1) Unless the context otherwise requires, 

any expression to which a special meaning is attached 

in the Elementary Education Acts, 
Interpretation. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 

meaning in this Act. 

(2) In this Act the expression '^ minor local au- 
thority '' means, as respects any school, the council 
of any borough or urban district, or the parish coun- 
cil or (where there is no parish council) the parish 



ACT OP 1902 221 

meeting of any parisli which appears to the county 
council to be served by the school. Where the school 
appears to the county council to serve the area of 
more than one minor local authority the county coun- 
cil shall make such provision as they think proper for 
joint appointment of managers by the authorities 
concerned. 

(3) In this Act the expressions " powers," " du- 
ties," " property," and " liabilities " shall, unless the 
context otherwise requires, have the same meanings 
as in the Local Government Act, 1888. 

(4) In this Act the expression " college " includes 
any educational institution, whether residential or not. 

(5) In this Act, unless the context otherwise re- 
quires, the expression " trust deed " includes any in- 
strument regulating the trusts or management of a 
school or college. 

25. — (1) The provisions set out in the First and 
Second Schedules to this Act relating to education 
committees and managers, and to the 
to proceedings, transfer of property and officers, and 
"jHotof' adjustment, shall have effect for the 
enactments purpose of carrying the provisions of 
this Act into effect. 

(2) In the application of the Elementary Educa- 
tion Acts, 1870 to 1900, and other provisions referred 
to in that schedule, the modifications specified in the 

Third Schedule to this Act shall have effect. 
17 



222 ENGLAND AND WALES 

(3) The enactments mentioned in the Fourth 
Schedule to this Act shall be repealed to the extent 
specified in the third column of that schedule. 

26. — For the purposes of this Act the Council of 

the Isles of Scilly shall be the local education author- 

ity for the Scillj Islands, and the ex- 

of Act to penses of the council under this Act 

Scilly Islands. . ^^ . ., ^ , 

shall be general expenses oi the council. 

27. — (1) This Act shall not extend to Scotland or 

Ireland, or, except as expressly provided, to London. 

^ ^ ^ (2) This Act shall, except as ex- 

Extent, com- ^ ^ ^ ' -"^ 

mencement, pressly provided, come into operation 
and short title. . . 

on the appointed day, and the appointed 

day shall be the twenty-sixth day of March, nineteen 

hundred and three, or such other day, not being more 

than eighteen months later, as the Board of Education 

may appoint, and different days may be appointed 

for different purposes and for different provisions of 

this Act, and for different councils. 

(3) The period during which local authorities 
may, under the Education Act, 1901, as renewed by 
the Education Act, 1901 (Kenewal) Act, 1902, em- 
power school boards to carry on the work of the 
schools and classes to which those Acts relate shall be 
extended to the appointed day, and in the case of 
London to the twenty-sixth day of March, nineteen 
hundred and four. 

(4) This Act may be cited as the Education Act, 



ACT OF 1902 223 

1902, and the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 to 
1900, and this Act may be cited as the Education 
Acts, 1870 to 1902. 

SCHEDULES 
FIRST SCHEDULE 

PROVISION AS TO EDUCATION COMMITTEES AND MANAGERS 

A.— EDUCATION COMMITTEES 

(1) The council by whom an education commit- 
tee is established may make regulations as to the 
quorum, proceedings, and place of meeting of that 
committee, but, subject to any such regulations, the 
quorum, proceedings, and place of meeting of the 
committee shall be such as the committee determine. 

(2) The chairman of the education committee at 
any meeting of the committee shall, in case of an 
equal division of votes, have a second or casting vote. 

(3) The proceedings of an education committee 
shall not be invalidated by any vacancy among its 
members or by any defect in the election, appoint- 
ment, or qualification of any members thereof. 

(4) Minutes of the proceedings of an education 
committee shall be kept in a book provided for that 
purpose, and a minute of those proceedings, signed at 
the same or next ensuing meeting by a person de- 
scribing himself as, or appearing to be, chairman of 
the meeting of the committee at which the minute 



224 ENGLAND AND WALES 

is signed, sliall be received in evidence without fur- 
ther proof. 

(5) Until the contrary is proved, an education 
committee shall be deemed to have been duly con- 
stituted and to have power to deal with any matters 
referred to in its minutes. 

(6) An education committee may, subject to any 

directions of the council, appoint such and so many 

subcommittees, consisting either wholly or partly 

of members of the committee, as the committee 

thinks fit. 

B.— MANAGERS 

(1) A body of managers may choose their chair- 
man, except in cases where there is an ex-officio chair- 
man, and regulate their quorum and proceedings in 
such a manner as they think fit, subject, in the case of 
the managers of a school provided by the local edu- 
cation authority, to any directions of that authority. 

Provided, that the quorum shall not be less than 
three, or one-third of the whole number of managers, 
whichever is the greater. 

(2) Every question at a meeting of a body of 
managers shall be determined by a majority of the 
votes of the managers present and voting on the ques- 
tion, and in case of an equal division of votes the 
chairman of the meeting shall have a second or cast- 
ing vote. 

(3) The proceedings of a body of managers shall 



ACT OF 1902 225 

not be invalidated by any vacancy in their number, 
or by any defect in the election, appointment, or 
qualification of any manager. 

(4) The body of managers of a school provided 
by the local education authority shall deal with such 
matters relating to the management of the school, 
and subject to such conditions and restrictions, as the 
local education authority determine. 

(5) A manager of a school not provided by the 
local education authority, appointed by that authority 
or by the minor local authority, shall be removable 
by the authority by whom he is appointed, and any 
such manager may resign his office. 

(6) The body of managers shall hold a meeting 
at least once in every three months. 

(Y) Any two managers may convene a meeting 
of the body of managers. 

(8) The minutes of the proceedings of every body 
of managers shall be kept in a book provided for that 
purpose. 

(9) A minute of the proceedings of a body of man- 
agers, signed at the same or the next ensuing meeting 
by a person describing himself as, or appearing to be, 
chairman of the meeting at which the minute is 
signed, shall be received in evidence without further 
proof. 

(10) The minutes of a body of managers shall be 
open to inspection by the local education authority. 



226 ENGLAND AND WALES 

(11) Until tlie contrary is proved, a body of 
managers shall be deemed to be duly constituted 
and to have power to deal with the matters re- 
ferred to in their minutes. 

SECOND SCHEDULE 

PROVISIONS AS TO TRANSFER OP PROPERTY AND OFFICERS, AND 

ADJUSTMENT 

(1) The property, powers, rights, and liabilities 
(including any property powers, rights, and liabilities 
vested, conferred, or arising under any local Act or 
any trust deed) of any school board or school-attend- 
ance committee existing at the appointed day shall 
be transferred to the council exercising the powers of 
the school board. 

(2) Where, under the provisions of this Act, any 
council relinquishes its powers and duties in favor of 
a county council, any property or rights acquired 
and liabilities incurred, for the purpose of the per- 
formance of the powers and duties relinquished, in- 
cluding any property or rights vested or arising, or 
any liabilities incurred, under any local Act or trust 
deed, shall be transferred to the county council. 

(3) Any loans transferred to a council under this 
Act shall, for the purpose of the limitation on the 
powers of the council to borrow, be treated as money 
borrowed under this Act. 

(4) Any liability of an urban district council 



ACT OF 1903 227 

incurred under the Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 
and 1891, and charged on any fund or rate, shall, by 
virtue of this Act, become charged on the fund or rate 
out of which the expenses of the council under this 
Act are payable, instead of on the first-mentioned 
fund or rate. 

(5) Section two of this Act shall apply to any bal- 
ance of the residue under section one of the Local 
Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890, remain- 
ing unexpended and unappropriated by any council 
at the appointed day. 

(6) Where the liabilities of a school board trans- 
ferred to the local education authority under this Act 
comprise a liability on account of money advanced 
by that authority to the school board, the Local Gov- 
ernment Board may make such orders as they think 
fit for providing for the repayment of any debts in- 
curred by the authority for the purposes of those ad- 
vances within a period fixed by the order, and, in 
case the money advanced to the school board has been 
money standing to the credit of any sinking fund or 
redemption fund or capital money applied under the 
Local Government Acts, 1888 and 1894, or either of 
them, for the repayment to the proper fund or ac- 
count of the amount so advanced. 

Any order of the Local Government Board made 
under this provision shall have effect as if enacted in 
this Act. 



228 ENGLAND AND WALES 

(7) Where a district council ceases by reason of 
this Act to be a school authority within the meaning 
of the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Chil- 
dren) Act, 1893, or the Elementary Education (De- 
fective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1899, any prop- 
erty or rights acquired and any liabilities incurred 
under those Acts shall be transferred to the county 
council, and, notwithstanding anything in this Act, 
the county council may raise any expenses incurred 
by them to meet any liability of a school authority 
under those Acts (whether a district council or not), 
and transferred to the county council, off the whole 
of their area, or off any parish or parishes which in 
the opinion of the council are served by the school in 
respect of which the liability has been incurred. 

(8) Sections eighty-five to eighty-eight of the 
Local Government Act, 1894 (which contain trans- 
itory provisions), shall apply with respect to any 
transfer mentioned in this schedule, subject as fol- 
lows: 

(a) references to " the appointed day " and to 
" the passing of this Act " shall be construed, as re- 
spects a case of relinquishment of powers and duties, 
as references to the date on which the relinquishment 
takes effect ; and 

(b) the powers and duties of a school board or 
school-attendance committee which is abolished, or a 
council which ceases under the provisions of this Act 



ACT OF 1903 229 

to exercise powers and duties, shall be deemed to be 
powers and duties transferred under this Act; and 

(c) subsections four and five of section eighty- 
five shall not apply. 

(9) The disqualification of any persons who are, 
at the time of the passing of this Act, members of any 
council, and who will become disqualified for office 
in consequence of this Act, shall not, if the council so 
resolve, take effect until a day fixed by the resolution, 
not being later than the next ordinary day of retire- 
ment of councilors in the case of a county council, the 
next ordinary day of election of councilors in the 
case of the council of a borough, and the fifteenth 
day of April in the year nineteen hundred and four in 
the case of an urban district council. 

(10) 1^0 election of members of a school board 
shall be held after the passing of this Act, and the 
term of office of members of any school board holding 
office at the passing of this Act, or appointed to fill 
casual vacancies after that date, shall continue to the 
appointed day, and the Board of Education may make 
orders with respect to any matter which it appears to 
them necessary or expedient to deal with for the pur- 
pose of carrying this provision into effect, and any 
order so made shall operate as if enacted in this Act. 

(11) Where required for the purpose of bringing 
the accounts of a school to a close before the end of 
the financial year of the school, or for the purpose of 



230 ENGLAND AND WALES 

meeting any change consequent on this Act, the Board 
of Education may calculate any parliamentary grant 
in respect of any month or other period less than a j 
year, and may pay any parliamentary grant which 
has accrued before the appointed day at such times ; 
and in such manner as they think fit. 

(12) Any parliamentary grant payable to a pub- 
lic elementary school not provided by a school board | 
in respect of a period before the appointed day shall 
be paid to the persons who were managers of the 
school immediately before that day, and shall be ap- 
plied by them in payment of the outstanding liabili- 
ties on account of the school, and so far as not re- 
quired for that purpose shall be paid to the persons 
who are managers of the school for the purposes of 
this Act and shall be applied by them for the purposes 
for which provision is to be made under this Act by 
those managers, or for the benefit of any general fund 
applicable for those purposes: Provided that the 
Board of Education may, if they think fit, pay any 
share of the aid grant under the Voluntary Schools 
Act, 1897, allotted to an association of voluntary 
schools, to the governing body of that association, if 
such governing body satisfy the Board of Education 
that proper arrangements have been made for the 
application of any sum so paid. 

(13) Any school which has been provided by a 
school board or is deemed to have been so provided 



ACT OF 1902 231 

shall be treated for the purposes of the Elementary 
Education Acts, 1870 to 1900, and this Act, as a 
school which has been provided by the local education 
authority, or which is deemed to have been so pro- 
vided, as the case may be. 

(14) The local education authority shall be en- 
titled to use for the purposes of the school any school 
furniture and apparatus belonging to the trustees or 
managers of any public elementary school not pro- 
vided by a school board, and in use for the purposes 
of the school before the appointed day. 

(15) During the period between the passing of 
this Act and the appointed day, the managers of any 
public elementary school, whether provided by a 
school board or not, and any school-attendance com- 
mittee, shall furnish to the council, which will on the 
appointed day become the local education authority, 
such information as that council may reasonably re- 
quire. 

(16) The officers of any authority whose prop- 
erty, rights, and liabilities are transferred under this 
Act to any council shall be transferred to and become 
the officers of that council, but that council may abol- 
ish the office of any such officer whose office they deem 
unnecessary. 

(17) Every officer so transferred shall hold his 
office by the same tenure and on the same terms and 
conditions as before the transfer, and while perform- 



232 ENGLAND AND WALES 






ing tlie same duties shall receive not less salary or 
remuneration than theretofore, but if any such offi- 
cer is required to perform duties which are not anal- 
ogous to or which are an unreasonable addition to; 
those which he is required to perform at the date of 
the transfer, he may relinquish his office, and any 
officer who so relinquishes his office, or whose office 
is abolished, shall be entitled to compensation under 
this Act. 

(18) A council may, if they think fit, take into 
account continuous service under any school boards or 
school-attendance committees in order to calculate 
the total period of service of any officer entitled to 
compensation under this Act. 

(19) If an officer of any authority to which the 
Poor Law Officers' Superannuation Act, 1896, ap- 
plies is under this Act transferred to any council, and 
has made the annual contributions required to be 
made under that Act, the provisions of that Act shall 
apply, subject to such modifications as the Local Gov- 
ernment Board may by order direct for the purpose 
of making that Act applicable to the case. 

(20) Any local education authority who have es- 
tablished any pension scheme, or scheme for the su- 
perannuation of their officers, may admit to the bene- 
fits of that scheme any officers transferred under this 
Act on such terms and conditions as they think fit. 

(21) Section one hundred and twenty of the Local 



ACT OF 1902 233 

Government Act, 1888, which relates to compensa- 
tion to existing officers, shall apply as respects officers 
transferred under this Act, and also (with the neces- 
sary modifications) to any other officers who, by vir- 
tue of this Act or anything done in pursuance or in 
consequence of this Act, suffer direct pecuniary loss 
by abolition of office or by diminution or loss of fees 
or salary, in like manner as it applies to officers trans- 
ferred under this Act, subject as follows: 

(a) any reference in that section to the county 
council shall include a reference to a borough or 
urban district council; and 

(h) references in that section to " the passing of 
this Act " shall be construed, as respects a case of re- 
linquishment of powers and duties, as references to 
the date on which the relinquishment takes effect ; and 

(c) any reference to powers transferred shall be 
construed as a reference to property transferred; and 

(d) any expenses shall be paid out of the fund 
or rate out of which the expenses of a council under 
this act are paid, and, if any compensation is payable 
otherwise than by way of an annual sum, the payment 
of that compensation shall be a purpose for which a 
council may borrow for the purposes of this Act. 

(22) Section sixty-eight of the Local Government 
Act, 1894 (which relates to the adjustment of prop- 
erty and liabilities), shall apply with respect to any 
adjustment required for the purposes of this Act. 



234 ENGLAND AND WALES 

THIRD SCHEDULE 

MODIFICATION OF ACTS, ETC. 

(1) Eeferences to school boards and school dis- 
tricts shall be construed as references to local educa- 
tion authorities and the areas for which they act, 
except as respects transactions before the appointed 
day, and except that in paragraph (2) of section nine- 
teen of the Elementary Education Act, 1876, and in 
subsection (1) of section two of the Education Code 
(1890) Act, 1890, references to a school district shall, 
as respects the area of a local education authority be- 
ing the council of a county, be construed as references 
to a parish. 

(2) Eeferences to the school fund or local rate 
shall be construed as references to the fund or rate 
out of which the expenses of the local education 
authority are payable. 

(3) In section thirty-eight of the Elementary 
Education Act, 1876, references to members of a 
school board shall be construed as references to mem- 
bers of the education committee, or of any subcom- 
mittee appointed by that committee for school attend- 
ance purposes. 

(4) The power of making by-laws shall (where the 
local education authority is a county council) include 
a power of making different by-laws for different parts 
of the area of the authority. 



ACT OF 1902 235 

(5) The following provision shall have effect in 
lieu of section five of the Elementary Education Act, 
1891: 

" The duty of a local education authority under 
the Education Acts, 1870 to 1902, to provide a suffi- 
cient amount of public school accommodation shall 
include the duty to provide a sufficient amount of pub- 
lic school accommodation without payment of fees in 
every part of their area." 

(6) The words " in the opinion of the Board of 
Education," shall be substituted for the words " in 
their opinion " in the first paragraph of section eight- 
een of the Elementary Education Act, 1870. 

(7) Section ninety-nine of the Elementary Edu- 
cation Act, 1870, shall apply to the fulfilment of any 
conditions, the performance of any duties, and the 
exercise of any powers under this Act as it applies to 
the fulfilment of conditions required in pursuance of 
that Act to be fulfilled in order to obtain a parlia- 
mentary grant. 

(8) A reference to the provisions of this Act as to 
borrowing shall be substituted in section fifteen of the 
Elementary Education Act, 1873, and a reference to 
the Local Government Board shall be substituted for 
the second reference in that section to the Education 
Department, and also for the reference to the Edu- 
cation Department in section ^Ye of the Elementary 
Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, 1893. 



236 ENGLAND AND WALES 

(9) A reference to the provisions of this Act rela- 
ting to the enforcement of the performance of the 
local education authority's duties by mandamus shall \ 
be substituted in section two of the Elementary Edu- 
cation Act, 1880, for the reference to section twenty- 
seven of the Elementary Education Act, 1876. 

(10) The substitutions for school boards, school 
districts, school fund, and local rate made by this 
schedule shall, unless the context otherwise requires, 
be made in any enactment referring to or applying 
to the Elementary Education Acts, 18Y0 to 1900, or 
any of them, so far as the reference or application 
extends. 

(11) Eeferences in any enactment or in any pro- 
vision of a scheme made under the Charitable Trusts 
Acts, 1853 to 1894, or the Endowed Schools Acts, '■ 

1869 to 1889, or the Elementary Education Acts, 

1870 to 1900, to any provisions of the Technical In- 
struction Acts, 1889 and 1891, or either of those 
Acts, shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be 
construed as references to the provisions of Part II 
of this Act, and the provisions of this Act shall 
apply with respect to any school, college, or hostel 
established, and to any obligation incurred, un- 
der the Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 and 1891, 
as if the school, college, or hostel had been estab- 
lished or the obligation incurred under Part II of 
this Act. 



ACT OF 1903 237 

(12) The Local Government Board may, after 
consultation with the Board of Education, by order 
make such adaptations in the provisions of any local 
Act (including any Act to confirm a Provisional 
Order and any scheme under the Municipal Corpora- 
tions Act, 1882, as amended by any subsequent Act) 
as may seem to them to be necessary to make those 
provisions conform with the provisions of this Act, 
and may also in like manner, on the application of any 
council who have power as to education under this 
Act and have also powers as to education under any 
local Act, make such modifications in the local Act as 
will enable the powers under this Act to be exercised 
as if they were powers under this Act. 

Any order made under this provision shall oper- 
ate as if enacted in this Act. 

The editor of the London Chronicle in comment- 
ing on this Act says : " The Act is admittedly one of 
the most complicated and difficult to understand that 
has been inscribed on the statute-book for many 
years." The objects of the Act he states as follows! 
" To establish a uniform and efficient system of ele- 
mentary education at the public expense, without 
giving offense to the denominationalists on the one 
hand and the undenominationalist ratepayer on the 
other. To establish an efficient system of secondary 
education, and to coordinate the various grades of 
18 



238 ENGLAND AND WALES 

administration of one and the same authorities in 
suitable areas." 

This Act, involving as it does wide departures 
from the Act of 1870, must be regarded in some de- 
gree revolutionary. If that Act marked the first era 
in the public instruction of England and Wales, this 
Act must mark the second era. To what amendments 
the Act may be subjected in subsequent Parliaments 
no one can divine. The applications of the Act can 
but interest the friends of popular education the 
world around. May the second era of the public 
instruction in England and Wales be one of greatly 
accelerated progress. If the Act shall ultimately so 
settle administrative questions that local enthusiasm 
shall furnish the needed funds for the improvement 
and enlargement of the public schools, and a sufficient 
number of well-qualified, progressive teachers shall 
be employed, aided by a sufficient force of skilled 
managers or superintendents, then it will be possible 
as never before to study the children to be educated, 
the ends to be gained by education, the means to be 
employed, and the proper methods of applying the 
means. The interior life of the schools the Act 
can not reach, but conditions helpful it attempts to 
provide. 

While the Act has serious defects, it is well to note 
its excellences. 

1. It is adapted to secure unity in the administra- 



ACT OF 1902 239 

tion of all grades of public schools. It also tends to 
eliminate the spirit of caste which has been detri- 
mental to elementary and to higher schools. 

2. The Act provides a local authority with the 
power and duty of securing efficiency in all public 
schools, elementary and secondary, denominational 
and undenominational. 

3. The organization required by the Act provides 
opportunity to secure the services of men and women 
skilled in supervising schools and in directing the 
work of teachers. 

4. The Act safeguards the religious interests of 
the denominational schools. 

5. By the additional powers the Act confers upon 
the county councils, the Act strengthens the agencies 
of local government and thus tends to increase the 
interest of the people in public affairs and to stimu- 
late them to promote the general welfare. 



CHAPTEE V 

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 

In 1696, by public statute, provision was made 
for a school in every parish in Scotland. But, long 
before, the education of children and youth had been 
the earnest concern of the Scotch Parliament and of 
the Assembly of the Church. 

The first schools in Great Britain v^ere connected 
with religious houses, yet before the time of the 
Reformation in Scotland, as well as in England, gram- 
mar schools had been established in the principal 
towns. In each country the Reformation opened a 
new era in the progress of education. The schools 
of Scotland gained more, proportionately, from the 
ruins of the Catholic Church than the schools of Eng- 
land. One of the first plans of the Reformed Church 
under the leadership of John Knox and his cowork- 
ers was to increase the means of education by the 
distribution of the property of the Roman Church so 
as to secure a Latin or grammar school in every town 
^^ of any reputation " and a teacher of the " first rudi- 
ments " in every parish. It was also proposed to 
240 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OB' SCOTLAND 241 

have a college " for logic, rhetoric, and the tongues 
in every notable town." Though in a measure baf- 
fled by the selfishness of those who had seized the 
church property, and by the poverty of the people, 
this movement so far succeeded that Scotland became 
famous for its parochial schools. Her people, in- 
cluding the middle and lower classes, were admitted 
to be the best educated in Europe. As the large 
towns increased in population the parish system 
failed to meet the new requirements. Additional 
schools were from time to time provided by private 
effort; but Scotland seemed destined to lose the edu- 
cational prestige she had gained. 

In the Eevolutionary Settlement of 1696 the na- 
tion joined hands with the Presbyterian Church in the 
endeavor to maintain schools throughout the land. 
The Church was to continue the supervision and 
management of the parish schools as heretofore, 
while the heritors of each parish were to provide a 
schoolhouse and a salary for the teacher. Those liv- 
ing in the Lowlands quickly responded by furnishing 
the buildings and the salaries. Those living in the 
Highlands were not in a condition to furnish and 
maintain schools for all children. The Highlands at 
the beginning of the nineteenth century, and later, 
were poorly supplied with elementary schools. 

The Act of 1803 supplemented that of 1696 ; but 
it failed in parts of the Highlands and in the islands 



242 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 

to secure the needed schools. The salary of the parish 
schoolmaster was now to be $75 or $100 (£15 to £20), 
with a free house and a small garden and the school 
fees. The independent home and the fact that he 
was in the same social rank as the minister dwelling 
in the manse went far in giving position and perma- 
nence to the teacher. His work, though different, 
was considered hardly second to that of the minister. 
Like him he was backed by the approval of the pres- 
bytery, like him he was required to subscribe to the 
Confession of the Faith and the Formula of the 
Church of Scotland, and often like him he was, in 
the Highland parish even, a liberally educated man. 
Though the minister was to supervise his school, he 
was regarded as a helper rather than as an inspector. 
During a good part of the first half of the nineteenth 
century, in spite of much effort on the part of church- 
es and individuals, elementary education, especially 
in the Highlands and in the islands, was sadly defi- 
cient. Many thousand children were beyond the 
reach of the parish schools. 

When Parliament began in 1839 to make grants 
to the schools of Scotland and to extend its system 
of inspection to her schools, the educational needs 
became more apparent. It was clearly evident that, 
owing to increased population and the secularizing 
of instruction, the Church was not able to meet the 
demand of the times in extending and improving the 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 243 

condition of the schools. The United Kingdom, 
through its Parliament, must hereafter do more for 
the schools. 

By the Act of 1861 the teacher's salary was made 
to range between £35 and £70. He was still super- 
vised by the agents of the presbyteries, and was re- 
quired to give evidence that he was a member of a 
Presbyterian church; but hereafter he was to be ex- 
amined as to his professional qualifications by some 
one of the Scottish universities. 

The Reformed Church and its zealous and often 
militant offspring, with much prayerful endeavor, 
had laid the foundations of a national system and by 
earnest and self-denying effort had tried to make edu- 
cation universal. The schools, though for the most 
part closely linked with the churches, as were the 
schools of E'ew England in their earlier history, were, 
like them, maintained as a duty which the state and 
the Church alike owed to the children. The well- 
being of the nation required Christian men and in- 
telligent citizens. The Presbyterians, though ever 
ready to make large sacrifices for the maintenance 
of their faith, had administered their schools in no 
narrow sectarian spirit. Early in the nineteenth cen- 
tury the Presbyterian Church had enjoined the teach- 
ers not to attempt to teach the children of Roman 
Catholics in anything religious to which their par- 
ents or priests objected. The result was that the 



244 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OP SCOTLAND 

children of Roman Catholics freely attended the 
parish schools. The religious instruction was scrip- 
tural and not sectarian, and in accord with funda- 
mental truths generally believed; and the religious 
views of the minority were not only tolerated, but 
duly respected. 

Before 1872 Scotland had come to occupy an en- 
viable place in the history of education, yet much 
remained to be done to secure a thoroughly efficient 
system. Sectarian zeal and rivalry had originated, 
in addition to the parish schools, those founded and 
maintained by different sects. Some of these fur- 
nished needed secondary instruction, thus making it 
possible for a large number of young men to reach 
the university. Many of them furnished needed ele- 
mentary instruction. But these schools, like the 
earlier academies of 'New England, tended to with- 
draw interest from the state schools and were in many 
small communities inefficient institutions. The com- 
paratively few Episcopalians and Catholics holding 
tenaciously that their peculiar forms and dogmas 
were essential to religion had a show of reason for 
private schools; but other sects essentially agreeing 
respecting religious instruction had little reason for 
maintaining separate institutions; yet the several di- 
visions of the Presbyterian Church deemed it neces- 
sary to make distinctive efforts in promoting educa- 
tion that each might not fall behind the others in 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 245 

intelligence and in the influence inseparable from 
education and culture. 

A commission appointed to inquire into tlie condi- 
tion of the schools and to make recommendations, 
after thorough investigation, reported in 1867 that 
the sectarian schools were often established where 
the welfare of the children did not demand additional 
schools ; that grants in many localities were not appor- 
tioned to the needs of the schools; that the parochial 
schools proved inadequate to the needs of large towns 
and of certain Highland and island districts; that 
nearly one-fifth of the children were not enrolled in 
any school; that one-half of those enrolled were in 
schools whose excellence was not tested by efficient 
inspectors ; that the sentiment of the people demanded 
some effective means of securing attendance; and 
that a more general system of local assessment for 
schools must be devised. 

We have already considered the working of the 
revised code of Secretary Lowe in the schools of 
England. We found that apportioning parliamen- 
tary grants to schools in accordance with the success 
or failure of each student in his individual examina- 
tion in the prescribed studies, though resulting in 
more painstaking work with duller pupils, narrowed 
the work of the schools, making much of the work of 
the teachers a mechanical drill for examination. We 
found that " payment by results " brought least 



246 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OP SCOTLAND 

money to those schools that were most needy, tended 
to diminish and render uncertain the salaries of the 
teachers and to drive the abler teachers into more 
congenial employments. 

The commission found in Scotland objections to 
the working of the revised code additional to those 
that vexed the schools of England. The parish 
teacher had held office for life or during good behavior 
and had enjoyed large freedom in the management of 
his school. State inspection was to him a disturbing 
element. He could not now gratify his scholarly am- 
bition as hitherto, in laboring in season and out of sea- 
son to help forward some brilliant and deserving boy 
toward some one of the universities, where his success 
might reflect lasting fame upon the school and bring 
honor to himself and to his faithful teacher. The code 
demanded individual examinations of each pupil in 
reading, writing, and arithmetic. Thus the teacher's 
standing and possibly his salary and his tenure of 
office were determined by his success in elementary 
cramming and drilling. The code had been framed 
to make the elementary instruction in the schools of 
England effective for the children of the poor. It 
had nothing to do with aiding pupils to reach uni- 
versities. " Payment by results " in the three Ws 
under individual examinations by state inspectors 
tended strongly to hamper the teacher in the realiza- 
tion of his ideals and to level all his instruction to the 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 247 

elementary plane. Moreover, it grated harshly on 
Scottish ears, little accustomed to the terms of caste, 
so common in England, to hear that they were, by 
the code, put under a system of grants " to promote 
the education of children belonging to the class who 
support themselves by manual labor." The rich and 
the poor were the patrons of the parish school. Their 
children sat side by side on the school benches. The 
elementary schools of England were the outgrowth of 
charity schools; the schools of Scotland had been 
evolved under no such invidious conditions. 

While recognizing these and other objections to 
the working of the code, the commission were not un- 
mindful of the more just distribution of the teacher's 
labors which it secured, and the increased efficiency 
in elementary instruction which it promoted. On 
the whole, the report sustained the utility of the code, 
though stoutly maintaining that important changes 
should be made. The reorganization of the schools 
which the commission outlined was likely to rouse the 
jealousy and the opposition of the Scottish Church, 
that with untiring zeal had hitherto so faithfully 
guarded and guided public instruction. The people 
of Scotland justly feared that the Parliament at West- 
minster would make changes without due regard to 
the broader traditions and higher aspirations which 
had distinguished the Scottish ideals of national edu- 
cation. It was fortunate for Scotland that the Act of 



248 THE ELE.MENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 

1870 providing a system of schools for England and 
Wales was not at once, without change, foisted upon 
the Commonwealth of Scotland. 

Before noticing the important advance resulting 
from the Act for Scotland enacted two years later, it 
is well to notice the summary of Sir Henry Craik re- 
viewing " the part the parochial school had played in 
molding the national character." 

" In the first place, the national system was not 
confined to the parish schools. In addition to these, 
there were burg or grammar schools, which were em- 
braced within the scope of the statutes which had 
built up Scotch education and which were by no 
means dependent upon private benevolence or given 
over to voluntary management. These schools were, 
indeed, poorly endowed. But such revenues as they 
had were drawn from the common goods or public 
funds of the burg, and they were managed by the 
town councils. The qualifications of their teachers 
were carefully tested. They were not, indeed, able 
to carry on the education of their pupils so far as the 
leading English public schools. The country was too 
poor and the need of gaining a livelihood at an early 
age was too imperative to admit of a long time being 
spent before the serious work of life was begun. But 
within their own sphere they did a work which was 
unrivaled by the grammar schools of England with 
their vast endowments. They spread through the 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OP SCOTLAND 249 

country a creditably high standard of education. 
They rested upon that most secure of foundations, 
the presence of a constant interest in and demand for 
higher education. All classes mingled together on 
their benches. Scanty as were their endowments, 
they were managed on a scale so economical that their 
fees were as small as possible. A long tradition of 
good educational methods had made their instruction 
most admirably fitted to call out originality and to 
stimulate industry. They were sending out pupils to 
all parts of the world to assume leading functions in 
every line of life. They made no pretense to high and 
intricate scholarship; but their efficiency, so far as 
they went, was such as to call forth the astonishment 
of those who made inquiries on behalf of the com- 
missioners of 1864. They had never been accustomed 
to those slipshod methods which had lowered the 
grammar schools of England into institutions carried 
on solely for the benefit of some well-dowered incum- 
bents, unnoticed and unpatronized by the class for 
whom they had been established. To this the Scotch 
burg schools offered the most striking contrast. But 
besides these burg schools, which were an integral part 
of the national system, the parish schools also carried 
on some work of a kind unknown to the English ele- 
mentary schools. In these parish schools all classes 
mingled. The teacher, scanty as were his emolu- 
ments, had the dignity which belonged to a learned 



250 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND , 

profession, to the recollection of a university career, 
and to a freehold tenure. The organization of the 
parish school was indeed better fitted to bring out in 
the teacher the qualities of scholarship and culture 
than the thorough technical training called for in the 
elementary school. In many cases, no other means of 
preparation for the universities were open to large dis- 
tricts than those which were obtained in the parish 
schools. From these schools pupils passed directly to 
the universities; and the interest and energy of the 
teachers were often devoted mainly to carrying on the 
higher instruction of a select few of his pupils. Side 
by side with the clergyman, and often a member of the 
same profession, waiting only for clerical preferment, 
the parish schoolmaster became a center of culture in 
his district; and by this means, if scholarship in Scot- 
land reached no very distinguished standard as com- 
pared with the highest products of the larger English 
schools and the universities, it had at least the ad- 
vantage of wide and general diffusion and of pro- 
viding a ladder by which the humblest might rise to a 
distinguished place in the learned professions. If the 
battle of Waterloo was, according to the oft-quoted 
saying, won in the play-fields of Eton, the success of 
the Scotchman in after-life was often due to the train- 
ing of the parish schools. The contrast between the 
two courses of instruction sums up many of the fea- 
tures that marked off Scottish from English life." 



THE ELEMENTAHY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 251 

The Commission of Inquiry had done its work. 
In 1867, as we have said, its voluminous report, the 
result of some three years of investigation, was be- 
fore the people of Scotland. Though their ele- 
mentary schools made a far better showing than those 
of England and Wales, as reported by a somewhat 
earlier commission, yet it was evident that the schools 
of Scotland were not adequate to the pressing needs 
of the people, nor such as the nation was willing to 
make them. 

The conditions of public education in Scotland 
were so unlike those in England that Parliament 
wisely deferred the organization of a more complete 
national system for Scotland until the elementary 
schools of England and Wales should be provided for. 
In the meantime the people of Scotland were gaining 
clearer views of what was best for them, from the pro- 
longed parliamentary debates that preceded the Act 
of 1870, from the working of the English system 
after 1870, and from the continued study of their own 
educational problems. By the Act of 1872 Scotland 
procured from Parliament a new charter for her na- 
tional schools, not a little in advance of that granted 
two years earlier to England and Wales. This Act 
of 1870 for England and Wales provided for elemen- 
tary instruction in little else than in reading, writing, 
and arithmetic, excluding from parliamentary grants 
schools attempting secondary instruction. The cur- 



252 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 

riculum has been much broadened during the last 
thirty years; but to allow any public elementary 
school to teach subjects pertaining to secondary in- 
struction is still regarded by many Englishmen as 
unwarranted. London, however, and other large 
towns, have provided schools for grades higher than 
the seventh, the highest in the elementary course. 
The Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 is 
accomplishing much in providing secondary instruc- 
tion for Wales supplementary to that provided by the 
endowed grammar schools; but not till 1899 did Eng- 
land take the first step toward establishing a system 
of free secondary instruction, by the reorganization 
of the Department of Education. When this " put- 
ting of the house in order," as the head of the depart- 
ment, the Duke of Devonshire, phrases it, will provide 
for new occupants caring for secondary instruction, 
remains to be seen. There are large and varied 
vested interests in the form of the public and other 
schools on private foundations, engaged in secondary 
instruction, that, while providing abundant opportuni- 
ties for sons of aristocratic and wealthy families, are 
evidently in the way of an early establishment of a 
system of free, public, secondary schools. 

Any school in Scotland, by the Act of 1872, 
whether a burg school, an academy, or a parochial 
school, was allowed to teach what the managers di- 
rected. The remotest parish school in the Highlands 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 253 

might still send boys to the universities fitted to win 
honors satisfactory to the scholastic fervor of the mas- 
ter, the aspirations of the parents, and the pride of 
the hamlet. Again, the Act was truly national for 
Scotland. It did not provide for the lower classes 
only. School boards representing the ratepayers 
(all who owned or occupied real estate of £4 annual 
value) were to be elected to take charge of all schools 
in parishes, burg schools, academies, and church 
schools which might be transferred to their care. 
Church or sectarian schools were comparatively few 
in number, and destined soon to be much fewer. Scot- 
land had no Established Church, as in England, claim- 
ing the right to control elementary education, and so 
strongly intrenched in tradition and usage that she is 
evidently far from surrendering her schools to a na- 
tional system. There is as yet no complete national 
system of elementary schools in England and Wales; 
the national system, so far as it obtains, is supple- 
mentary to the voluntary or church system. The sys- 
tem can become national by the absorption or dis- 
placement of the voluntary by the board schools. At 
present there is no fusion. At best it can be regard- 
ed as a mingling often as incongruous as the iron and 
the clay in the feet of ^Nebuchadnezzar's image. But 
the patrons of voluntary and the patrons of board 
schools are not passive as minerals. It is not uncom- 
mon for them to contend in Parliament for days in 
19 



254 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 

acrimonious debate. Scotland has a system thor- 
oughly one and national. School boards represent- 
ing ratepayers are in every community, providing 
buildings and teachers and managing the schools. 

We have seen, in England and Wales, that sup- 
porters of voluntary schools in the year 1870 and in 
the years immediately following largely increased 
their school accommodations. This extension of 
church influence was stimulated by denominational 
zeal, by the desire to avoid the taxes consequent upon 
the setting up of board schools, and by the assurance 
of parliamentary grants in aid of the additional build- 
ings required. 

In Scotland, the building of schoolhouses and 
maintenance of parish schools had been the duty of 
the heritors. When these schools were surrendered 
to representative boards the matter of school-build- 
ings was in their hands. Hence the grants corre- 
sponding to the grants for school-buildings in Eng- 
land were placed in the hands of the boards, and 
practically lessened the local rates. Applications for 
grants for additional buildings in Scotland were al- 
lowed before the close of the year 1873, and were 
approved by a temporary board of education, which, 
for the purpose of aiding the organization of schools 
under the Act of 1872, had its office for six years at 
Edinburgh. 

By the Act, provision was made by Parliament for 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 255 

an Education Committee for Scotland, to act under 
the same committee of the Privy Council that super- 
vised the action of the Committee of Education for 
England and Wales. In 1885 Parliament created 
the Secretary for Scotland and made him the vice- 
president of the committee for Scotland. This officer, 
with his assistants, is responsible for the ordinary ad- 
ministration of the affairs of the schools so far as the 
authority of Parliament extends. Scotland has three 
chief inspectors. 

To any one familiar with the tenacity with which 
a Scotchman holds his religious convictions, and the 
frequent divisions that have occurred in religious bod- 
ies, it may seem strange that there should be so much 
unanimity in the matter of public instruction. That 
parishes should change the machinery of administra- 
tion and place their schools under the care of ad- 
ministrative boards does not seem as strange as the 
surrender to them of schools especially provided by 
religious sects. But, with comparatively few excep- 
tions, the hundreds of voluntary schools, built at 
large sacrifice, disappeared as sectarian schools to be 
rejuvenated as board schools. They entered upon a 
new era of usefulness, strengthened by the increase of 
local and parliamentary funds, by state inspection, 
and by the employment of better paid and stronger 
staffs of teachers. If some were discontinued, it was 
in the interest of economy and to provide a better 



256 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 

distribution of schools. The Free Church, with a 
most commendable zeal for the public good, handed 
over 150 schools, with their buildings, furniture, and 
grounds, " as a free and patriotic gift to the repre- 
sentatives of the people.'' 

The explanation of this public-spirited action, so 
sharply in contrast with the action of the clergy of 
the Established Church in England, is not found in 
the fact that the Scotch are less religious than the 
English. In no country is religion more wrought into 
the warp and woof of public and private life. What 
people have been more self-denying in maintaining 
their faith ? One explanation is, that in the religious 
life of the people there has been much unity in the 
midst of great variety. While there have been divi- 
sions and subdivisions, so that the student of Church 
history is often perplexed in tracing them, there has 
been throughout Scotland for some centuries essen- 
tially one church more distinguished by its teaching 
of the truth of the Bible than by its teaching of vari- 
ous dogmas and creeds. The Assembly's Catechism, 
so generally used in the several divisions of the 
Church, and in many of the public schools even, is a 
biblical and not a sectarian manual. The general re- 
ligious sentiment of the people of Scotland demands 
the reading, the study, and the explanation of the 
Scriptures in public schools, but forbids the teaching 
of sectarian dogmas. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 257 

The chief explanation of the unity and the ear- 
nestness of the people of Scotland in providing for 
the education of all children and youth, not only in 
elementary but in secondary schools and universi- 
ties, is their settled belief that their interests and their 
duty demand it. More than three hundred years ago 
John Knox urged the necessity and the duty of pro- 
viding schools for all children, not only as a means of 
religious light and liberty, but as essential to the 
national welfare. He was a statesman as well as a 
reformer. The policy he urged has been accepted by 
his countrymen as sound. In no country, if we except 
Switzerland, is free, universal, compulsory education 
more valued than in Scotland. In gaining an educa- 
tion nowhere do we find more self-denial on the part 
of parents and students. Sir William Harcourt, in 
one of his speeches in the House of Commons, puts 
the question, " Why is Scotland superior to England 
in education ? " and replies, " It is because the Scotch 
people care more about education, and because they 
understand more its practical value in life." Domsie, 
the teacher in the parish of Drumtochty, expressed 
the sentiment of a true Scotchman when he said, 
" And a'm thinking with auld John Knox that ilka 
scholar is something added to the riches of the com- 
monwealth." 

We have seen that the people of Scotland were 
demanding more stringent measures for securing 



258 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OP SCOTLAND 

school attendance before the passage of the Act of 
1872. The Act gave every school board in Scotland 
power to enforce attendance by definite penalties. 
The Act of 1870 made the enforcing of attendance 
optional with school boards in England and Wales. 
'No provision was made for compulsory attendance 
where a school board was not elected. With all sup- 
plementary acts to secure attendance, enacted from 
time to time, many magistrates in London and else- 
where are proverbially lax in enforcing school at- 
tendance. It has often been said, and municipal 
courts give evidence, that the English mind is so 
habituated to maintaining the rights of the parents 
that the rights of the child are not fairly regarded. 
In Scotland compulsory laws are persistently en- 
forced. The fine for non-attendance visited upon the 
parents, after due notice by a magistrate, was for 
years four times that in England. The people of 
Scotland seem determined that children shall secure 
the advantages of a good system of national edu- 
cation. 

The Acts passed in 1878, and in 1883 supplemen- 
tary to that of 1878, provided more effective means 
of securing attendance at schools and more carefully 
protected the interests of children employed in fac- 
tories. To be employed half of the time — i. e., dur- 
ing one session per day — a child must be ten years of 
age and have passed the third standard. One of this 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 259 

age who has passed the fifth standard — i. e., one who 
has completed the elementary course with the ex- 
ception of the last two years — may engage in full 
employment. In England the lowest age of employ- 
ment is eleven, but the local authorities of the school 
may determine the other condition, the advance made 
in the studies of the school. Many children in Eng- 
land have been required to pass only the second 
standard. In Scotland all children must continue in 
full attendance until the age of fourteen, unless they 
can obtain the third-standard certificate. 

Allowing bright children, usually of sensitive 
nervous organization, to leave school and go to work 
before they have finished the first half of their ele- 
mentary course is by physical toil to dwarf the most 
brilliant minds and hinder proper physical develop- 
ment. These evils are sadly apparent in factory cen- 
ters, whether in England or in Scotland. Philan- 
thropists and statesmen in each land are earnest in 
their attempts to put an end to the half-time system 
and to secure attendance until the age of fourteen, 
or until the elementary course is completed. They 
are making progress and will succeed. In rural Scot- 
land it would be far better, if the children are needed 
in the fields in summer, to secure, as in the rural 
schools of Switzerland, complete attendance during 
the colder months and close the schools during the 
farming season. 



260 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 

In 1882 a commission was appointed under the 
Educational Endowment Act. This commission, by 
much painstaking and labor, extending through sev- 
eral years, investigated the endowments and charities 
of institutions in Scotland. They found much read- 
justment and redistribution needed. " Three hundred 
and sixty-seven schemes," says Craik, " received the 
approval of her Majesty in Council, and by means of 
these the endowments were turned to the best ac- 
count." One result of the work of this commission 
was the regular inspection of all higher schools, 
whether endowed, burg, or voluntary schools. An- 
other result was a system of " leaving-certificate ex- 
aminations," in accordance with which 13,173 candi- 
dates were presented in 1895. This measure tended 
strongly to induce students to complete their second- 
ary courses of instruction. A result equally impor- 
tant was the provision of funds in many districts to aid 
those who should have the requisite qualifications in 
adding to their elementary course a higher course of 
instruction. The funds available for this purpose, for 
inspection, and for expenses of " leaving-certificates " 
were largely increased in 1892 by a sum from the 
Imperial Exchequer in the form of £60,000 annually 
taken from the local taxation account. This grant 
from the Imperial Exchequer was an offset to the 
additional grants made to the schools of England and 
Wales, in order to relieve pupils from the necessity 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 2G1 

of paying fees in the elementary schools. The ele- 
mentary schools of Scotland were already for the 
most part free, the funds accruing from certain 
probate and license duties, after the passage of the 
Local Government Act of 1889, having been appro- 
priated to relieve parents from the payment of fees. 
There is opportunity in England and Scotland for 
parents to pay fees by sending children to schools 
out of their own locality. Social distinctions tend to 
the maintenance of schools on private foundations. 
It is said that less than 3 per cent of the children in 
Scotland pay fees, while in England not far from 12 
per cent are tuition pupils. Since 1896, 10 shillings 
per scholar in average attendance has been paid from 
the national exchequer in lieu of fees in England and 
in Scotland. 

By the Act of 1890 school boards were empowered 
to provide for the education of the blind and the 
deaf. They are also empowered to establish day in- 
dustrial schools and to contribute to such schools 
on private foundations. Thus provision is made for 
relieving schools of truants and others who are not 
amenable to ordinary discipline. 

The history of education in Scotland gives abun- 
dant evidence of the high value in which the educa- 
tion of all children is regarded. In this respect the 
Scotch are rivals of the Swiss, the foremost nation 
in Europe in the value they attach to popular edu- 



262 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND 

eation. England, by her great public schools on pri- 
vate foundations and allied institutions, culminating 
in the universities, has made ample provision for the 
instruction of the children of wealthy and aristocratic 
families. The attempts of England as a state to pro- 
vide; for the education of all children within her 
limits, instead of leaving the education of the poor to 
the fickle provisions of charity or to the sectarian zeal 
of churches, belong mainly to the last three decades. 
Great progress has been made. Much remains to be 
done ere England can rank with Switzerland or Ger- 
many in fitting her children for the intellectual strug- 
gles of life. 

Were the people of Scotland, because of an aris- 
tocratic class founded on wealth or lineage, less demo- 
cratic, their system of elementary schools might not 
have an overpowering interest for any one who would 
discover the secret of the intellectual ability, the gen- 
erous culture, and the moral energy shown by Scotch- 
men in every part of the world. 



INDEX 



Act of 1870, 1, 16, 18-21, 49, 68, 

92, 97. 
Act of 1872, 251-254. 
Act of 1899, 41, 42, 252. 
Act of 1902, 187-239. 
Anglican clergy, attitude of, 47, 

72-74. 
Arnold, Matthew, 81. 
Associations of teachers, 143- 

147. 
Attendance compulsory, 20, 23- 

25, 185, 186, 258-259. 

Bible instruction, 53-62, 67, 68, 
80-82, 106, 256. 

Board schools, 22, 45-47, 75, 78. 

British and Foreign School So- 
ciety, 49, 63, 65, 77, 89. 

Buildings, 148-151. 

Buildings in Scotland, 254. 

Cobbett, William, 2. 
Code, 12, 27,32, 35, 145, 152-154. 
Coeducation, 171, 172. 
Commission, Royal, of 1858, 11. 
Conscience clause, 19, 50, 97. 
County councils, 25. 
Coward, W. Scott, 113. 
Craik, Sir Henry, 15, 248. 
Criticism lessons, 123-130. 



Deaf and blind, schools for, 40. 
Demonstration lessons, 122, 123. 
Department of Education, 6, 69. 
Disraeli, Benjamin, 2. 

Education, 116, 117. 

Enthusiasm of teachers, 139- 
142. 

Equality and fraternity of teach- 
ers, 142, 179, 180, 181. 

Escott, F. H. S., 37, 38. 

Evening schools, 39, 40, 183. 

Findlay, J. J., 125. 
Fitch, Sir Joshua, 61, 76. 
Forster, Right Hon. W. E., 21. 
Froebel, Friedrich, 91. 

Geography, 122, 127, 130, 170, 

171. 
George, Lloyd, 69, 70, 97. 
Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E., 1, 

16. 
Gorst, Sir John, 24, 185. 
Grants by Parliament, 2, 3, 9^ 

10, 26-28. 

Half-timers, 25. 
Hanus, Paul H., 159. 
Harcourt, Sir William, 257. 
263 



264 ELEMENTARY SCEOOLS OF GREAT BRITAIN 



Higher - grade schools, 43 - 45, 

177-178. 
History, 170, 171. 
Holman, Henry, 36, 37. 

Inspection of schools, 28, 178, 

179. 
Inspectors, 7, 10, 29-31, 34, 106. 

Kay-Shuttle worth, Sir James, 9, 

89. 
Knox, John, 22, 240, 257. 

Lancaster, Joseph, 63, 83. 
Laurie, S. S., 116. 
Lecky, W. E. H., 11. 
Lecturing, 120, 121. 
Literature, English, 169. 
Local government, 7, 25, 32. 
Lowe, Right Hon. R., Lord 
Sherbrooke, 1, 12, 14, 245. 

Macaulay, Thomas B., 8. 
McCarthy, Justin, 16, 17. 
Milton, John, 117. 
Monitorial schools, 80-89. 
Mundella, Right Hon. A. J., 70. 

National Society, 4, 9, 51, 53, 63, 

73, 89. 
National system, 175-177. 
Normal school, 9, 64, 89. 

Oakley, Sir H. E., 135. 

Parochial schools in Scotland, 

240-242, 248-250. 
Payments by results, 12-15. 
Payments in Scotland, 246, 247. 
Percival, Right. Rev. J., 179. 
Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich, 91. 



Physical culture, 139, 173, 174. 
Practising schools, 110-112, 129, 

131-135. 
Principles of teaching, 117, 118. 
Prussia and England contrasted, 

11. 
Psychology applied, 158-160. 
Pupil-teachers, 10, 56, 57, 88, 93- 

96, 98, 104, 165, 166. 

Queen Victoria favors grants for 
elementary schools, 5. 

Rankine, A., Esq., 140, 164. 
Result of commission of 1882 

upon schools of Scotland, 

260. 
Ritualism, 79. 

Rogers, Rev. J. Guinness, 71. 
Rousseau, Jean J., 91. 
Ruskin, John, 138, 186. 

Sadler, M. E., 23, 184. 

Scotland's earnestness in pro- 
moting public education, 
255-257, 261. 

Secondary schools, 43, 94, 178. 

Teachers, 161-167. 

Teachers and pupils, relations 

of, 172, 173. 
Teaching, 117-121, 155-158. 
religious and ethical, 50-63, 
67, 68, 97. 
Text-books, 168, 169. 
Training-colleges, 65, 66. 
conditions of admission to, 

99-103. 
course of study, 106. 
examinations in, 109. 



INDEX 



265 



Training - colleges, modes of 
training, 114-116. 

physical training, 139. 

practising schools, 110-112. 

recreation rooms, 137, 138. 

relation to monitorial schools, 
81. 

religious instruction, 67, 68. 

studies pursued, 106, 107. 

studying for university de- 
gree, 107, 108. 



Training - colleges, third - year 
students, 136, 137. 

Unity of schools in Scotland, 
253, 254. 

Voluntary schools, 18, 20-22, 
45-47, 65, 69, 75, 76. 

Waddington, Richard, 72. 
Westminster, Duke of, 138. 



(1) 



THE END 



THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. 

Edited by WILLIAM T. HARRIS, LUD., 
United States Commissionef of Education. 



A New Volume, — No» LV, 



Genetic Psychology for Teachers. 

By Charles H. Judd, Ph.D., Instructor in 
Psychology in Yale University. i2mo. Cloth, 
$1.20 net. 

This book deals with the facts and principles of 
mental development. It takes up the special phase 
of psychology which is of most importance to 
teachers, for it traces the changes which are pro- 
duced in mental life as a result of education in its 
various forms. It calls attention to many facts in the 
teacher's own mental life that illustrate and present 
to direct personal observation processes of develop- 
ment. This study of one's own mental development 
makes it possible to understand the nature of such 
development. Starting from this firm basis of self- 
study, the reader is carried forward to the less 
directly observable forms of development that appear 
in others. The essence of the argument is that 
** teacher-study " is the only true basis for child-study. 

The book applies the principles of mental devel- 
opment directly to the problems of teaching, reading, 
writing, and the use of number. One of its unique 
features is that it takes up specifically, not in a vague, 
general way, but exhaustively and clearly, the prac- 
tical problems that confront the individual teacher. 

a APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. LONDON. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES* 

Educational Foundations of Trade and 
Industry. 

By Fabian Ware. Vol. 54. Price, $1.20 net ; post- 
age 10 cents additional. 

This timely book describes the educational foundations 
of trade and industry as exhibited in the school systems of 
the chief European peoples and of the United States. 

The promotion of industry through education is the 
burden of the author's appeal. To make this appeal effect- 
ive, he examines first the growth of national systems in 
general — their conditions, impulses, and directions. This 
leads to a series of chapters giving a detailed statement of 
the educational foundations laid in England, Germany, and 
France ; and finally, those in America. 

The section devoted to the United States gives an 
exhaustive r^sumd of the characteristics of American edu- 
cation, from the kindergarten to the graduate university. 
Since Mr. Ware treats the subject more on its practical 
than on its cultural side, his examination includes a 
thorough analysis of commercial and technological educa- 
tion in every aspect and branch. The latest information 
has been used, and a large amount of concrete illustration, 
drawn from the actual workings of individual schools, gives 
the argument freshness, clearness, and coherence. 

••There can be no doubt that Mr. Fabian Ware's book will be of even 
more interest to Americans than to the English readers for whom it was 
primarily written. It is strictly up to date, and in view of the discussions 
that have recently taken place on the failure of England to keep her place in 
the race for trade and manufacturing supremacy, Mr. Ware has some obser- 
vations to make that have a strong faring on the subject." — New York Sun, 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 

> A f ig. 9. ' l'-# 












#*-- ^ ' V To ' ^0•^ ^^ *»,-.* .'?,^ Kt 

DOBBS BROTHERSA ^V' y • o '^^ V * ' ^loL'-v 

LIBRARY BmOlKG CO., INC.) A,** ►!^^ • c> "^ ^^.g^^S^^^ 



§^^^^ .'v^. 






